Agonizing Reappraisals

It will take time to sort out just what happened. But there's not much that's encouraging. It does look like a record turnout, and it does look like a lot of young people and new voters voted. But the most prophetic book turns out to be "What's the Matter With Kansas?" which asked why so many middle Americans vote against their own interests. That's apparently what happened.

We don't want to believe that this election was lost when the first gay couples kissed and exchanged marriage vows on television. But that is indeed a possibility.

We've heard directly what we knew would be true: The disdain much of the world had for George Bush did not always extend to ordinary Americans or America in general. But now that Bush has apparently been re-elected with a popular vote majority, it will.

Do we say now, I'm from California, or I'm from Pennsylvania? In trying to illustrate the absurdity of European wars, H.G. Wells hypothesized the unthinkable situation of Kentucky going to war against Virginia, since those states are roughly the size of France and Germany. On some level, it is not so clearly absurd anymore.

For political professionals, actual or aspiring, the fight will go on. This election showed at least that there's the financial basis and interest to work for progressive political change. And there will be much work to do, at first in fierce opposition, as Bush moves quickly to enact his program. He may be appointing a Supreme Court justice by the end of the week.

But for those of us who made not a dime from politics or from writing about it, who invested much but got no return, it is a time of reassessment. That includes this future of this little blog. Life is short, and in the Dark Ages, it can be shorter still.