Well, I don’t feel any better than I did yesterday, although I did get a full night’s sleep. Yesterday, the adjective I used to describe my general emotional state was “shattered.” I honestly don’t feel any better today. Honestly, as an American, I don’t know where to go from here. When Bush was “elected” in 2000, I told everyone I knew that liberals always win in the end. Women’s suffrage, cleaning up the environment, giving real rights to workers, supporting civil rights for minorities. Much has been accomplished on the liberal ledger in the past hundred years. And I felt like decades from now, the causes of today would be the wins of yesterday. Honestly, I don’t feel that way any more. Over the past four years, we’ve given up some gains, and over the next four years, we may give up more.

And then who’s to say what happens next? If you’re in the group that believes that at least the Republicans will have to own their mistakes for the next four years, and will tumble in 2008, wake up. Where’s your evidence. George W. Bush put up a record of abject and consistent failure at basically everything for four years, and he was enthusiastically embraced by the majority of voters. Yes, it was a slim majority, but it was a clear majority. Does anyone really think that anything he does in the next four years will change those people’s minds? Which red state are the Democrats going to take in 2008? The biggest change in this election was the Repubilcans putting together a Get Out the Vote effort that is just as good as the ones that the Democrats have relied on for years. I’m not sure how the Democrats are going to respond to that.

One thing I know for sure is that if anyone talks to me about the “wisdom of the American people” within arm’s reach, they’re liable to get punched in the face.