Freedom is not just another word for nothing left to lose.

Election day has finally dawned. This has seemed like the longest election and there was a time when I thought today would never arrive. I don’t know what the result will be at the end of the day; and in fact, at evening’s end there still might not be a decisive answer on who will be the next President of the United States.

I remember the election of 2000. I watched with amused detachment the antics of network anchors; calling Gore, then Bush, then Gore, then "It is too close to call." In the end, the cracker from Texas won. Yes that is how we use to refer George W. Bush in our home: The Texas Cracker. But that was then and this is now, and I truly believe that he is no more a Texas Cracker than I am.

9/11 happened and that changed everything, absolutely everything except for John Kerry. I remember remarking to a friend on September 12, 2001 that I bet Al Gore is thanking G-d he is not the President. There could not be a more stressful or thankless job than being President of the United States where literally the fate of the world rests upon your shoulders.

I am not an American. I am only the neighbor, so I have no vote. But if I had, I would go into the booth and vote for that Texas Liberator. There is a quote from Victor Davis Hanson on the mast of the Last Amazon. Those words resonate deeply in my being; “It is never wrong to be on the side of freedom – never.” There is only one candidate that comes close to living out that creed: George W. Bush. There is only one candidate who had the courage to put the boots on the ground and by that act, liberated millions upon millions of people from murderous thug-o-cracies. Over 40 million people are freer today than they have ever been in their history but freedom does not come without responsibilities. Ultimately, the responsibility for that newfound freedom lies within the Afghanis or Iraqis themselves.

If John Kerry had been President, I truly believe that the women of Afghanistan would still be prisoners behind their veils. The very life and liberty of all would still rest on the tender mercies of the Taliban. There would be no music in the streets of Kabul; there would be no schools for girls or a vote for the people to determine their own destiny.

Today, the Iraqi people are free of a murderous tyrant who slaughtered them at will for a 30-year rein of terror. There are no more mass graves being dug for a tyrant’s whims in Iraq today. Saddam cannot threaten the stability of his people or the world anymore. There are no more Iraqi soldiers being forced to fight wars against their neighbors for Saddam’s warped sense of honour, glory or profit. Today, the Soldiers of Iraq fight to preserve their freedom from an enemy who seeks to return them to a time of bondage.

If John Kerry were President, he'd still be negotiating with the Taliban for Osama bin Laden, Saddam would still be in power. If John Kerry becomes President tomorrow he will offer nuclear fuel to the Mullahs of Iran, who on October 31, 2004 voted overwhelming on a bill requiring their government to resume the enrichment of uranium with the cry, "Death to the Americans!"