Be Prepared In Case John McCain Wins

If there is any lesson that we have been taught over the last eight years, it's that the people need to be prepared to confront their leaders when they engage in corrupt abuse of power.  For that reason, even though there are a few days left before Election Day, I'm preparing now for the new political reality that will confront us after the election is over.

These preparations are taking place on many fronts, public and private, but they're aptly represented in the small, but growing collections of political gear I'm assembling for either possible outcome.

I do think that it's most likely that Barack Obama will win.  For that reason, I've created an Obama Victory group of tshirts over at Skreened, as well as a collection of other gear that's sampled around the theme of Thank me. I voted for Obama.

However, let's not kid ourselves that we know what's going to happen on Election Day, just because the polls point to a strong Obama victory.  I remember what happened in 2004, as the exit polls looked strong for John Kerry at first.  I remember celebrating too soon, only to deal with the agony of realizing that we'd have another 4 years of Bush.

CNN is currently predicting that Barack Obama will win with 291 or so electoral votes.  270 is the threshold for victory.  However, only 203 of those electoral college votes are regarded as "safe".  If John McCain can win the tossup states, and then take just 23 of the electoral college votes that are leaning Obama's way, it will be a McCain victory, and an Obama loss.

For that reason, I've already begun to prepare a second collection of campaign gear: An Emergency McCain Response Kit of bumper stickers and buttons with a more insurgent message: Don't blame me.  I voted for Obama.

In less than one week, one of these collections will become irrelevant.  Let's not pretend that we know which collection that will be.