It's almost over.

In less than a week, we vote. It is one of the very best things that we as a nation do.

The little retired Granny in our neighborhood and Warren Buffett, the richest guy in Nebraska, each get the same say in the future of our government. And in a few months, whoever we decide takes over will do so—peacefully—and in full view of the rest of the world. It is an amazing thing to watch. It is an amazing thing to participate in. My father fought for my ability to vote. He went to war three times so I could vote. It's personal, to me.

Please, take a moment to look over the various positions that candidates hold and the various issues in play. Educate yourself about not only what people have said, but what they have done. And on November 4th, please go to your polling place and vote. Vote like it's important. Vote like people have died so that you could.

There are people in the world today who want to drive us apart. Even though we claim to be (and they claim to love) the United States of America, they want, almost pathologically need to demonize the other side. They don't just have better ideas, they actually think they are better people. We have seen this kind of politics rise from the middle 1970s and finally, hopefully, we may have seen it burn itself out this year.

Come on, people! There aren't half of us patriots and half of us trying to flush the country down the drain. We don't need, and we are not served, by that kind of thinking.

Look around at where we are, now. Look at our standing in the world. Our debt. Our health care and energy policy. Look at the world we are leaving to our daughters and granddaughters, to our sons and grandsons. Who is best able to build a better world for them, and for generations unborn?

Don't merely ask yourself if you are better off now than you were at some arbitrary moment in time, though that's an important yardstick, too. Ask yourself if what you are voting for is really what you believe in? Party politics is important, but Profiles In Courage teaches us that at times we all have to decide whether we are primarily Republicans or Nebraskans, whether we are Lincolnites or Americans, whether we are more concerned with our Party or our family. In any large group, you are going to find people who disagree. That doesn't make them bad, it just means they disagree.

Ask yourself who best will improve things, educate yourself about the people and the issues and vote.

Vote. Vote, like it was important.