The Dawn Before the Dawn

Forty-eight hours and it'll all be over. No more extended coverage of Bush or Kerry stumping from a field in Idaho or Florida. No more projection polls. And for the love of all things sane, no more political commercials and campaign calls. These things we can be thankful for no matter who wins.

As a service to my loyal readers, all of you stressed about tomorrow, I want to take you back to a time when wars were fought for justifiable reasons, before the time of automatic dialers, back when cigarette smoking was a virtue. The year was 1944 and with a nation involved in World War II, there seemed to be some concern that we could not hold fair and honest elections (sound familiar?). Instead of sending in lawyers and pundits to the states in question, we did what we do best: produce a film. In "Tuesday in November," the American public is assured that the elections, if not the nation in general, will be fine. After all, this is Norman Rockwell's America, and if it's on celluloid, it can't be wrong.

Think that this whole voting machine problem is new? Check out this film from the 1950s in which the "new voting machine" is promoted as "engines of governmental efficiency and practical democracy."

Finally, if you thnk all this worrying is bad for you and you've possibly developed an ulcer, check out this film about a white-collar worker driven nuts by constant stress and worry.

Or just watch this film about a tranquilizer that is billed as a miracle drug.

So go vote, relax, have fun, and keep your fingers crossed!

{Note: All films are from the Prelinger Archives, part of the awe-inspiring Internet Archive.}

Comments

[gwenda]

I just hope against hope that you're right about it being over in 48 hours.