The voting has already started, indicating the start of the quadrennial exercise we here in the United States of America call Election Day. Tonight, I’ll make French Country Chicken with fingerling potatoes and spinach, and watch the returns with a chilled glass of Pinot Grigio. If Mitt Romney is declared winner, I’ll pour myself a Samuel Adams Winter Lager (yes, we already have them here in Arizona!) into my special Samuel Adams hourglass-shaped glass frosted just for the occasion and toast the 45th President of the United States. If Barack Obama is re-elected, I’ll pour myself another Pinot Grigio and toast his election. Everyone around these parts knows my feeling about President Obama, but if you win, you win, and that’s the way it’s gotta be in American elections.

Do I think an Obama 2nd term will result in the end of America as we know it? Absolutely. But in the Republic in which we live (no, we don’t live in a democracy) the way we elect leaders and do it without violence, fiat, or the backing of our armed forces remains a light to the rest of the world. It’s an amazing thing to behold, when you come to think of it. And it’s something I’m guessing millions of people across the world wish they could have in their own neck of the woods. America, the light of the world.

Were Obama to win, I’m not going to close the door of my bedroom and not come out for four years (I might do that if Michelle Obama were to run and follow her husband!), I’ll just go to work the next day and keep on trucking our debt down as currently planned. There are palm trees to feed and bills to pay and a Callaway Golf contract to fulfill. If Mitt Romney wins, I’ll be very pleased, but I’ll still do the very same thing. (I will, however, plan a huge to-do on Inauguration Day – chateaubriand, bacon wrapped in scallops, etc. etc. I might even break out my tuxedo and wear it for the festivities!)

But in the end, it will be another continuation of – or transfer of – power in the Executive Branch, a passing of power that remains the envy of the rest of the world. It’s been a long, hard slog these past two years; now, let the better man win and let the voters decide. Either way, I’m good with it. You or I, depending on our political persuasions, don’t have to like it, mind you, but I’m good with it.

Now, on to the election fallout, and just behind it, the holiday season.