Morning After...

It does feel a bit as though a fever is finally breaking in this country - just one of five fevers, but four is better than five... This is, honestly it is, better long term news than a complete victory. If you don't believe me, read me out about that. A complete rejection of Republicans would provoke them, rally them, raise their temperature to boiling. But this? Do anybody have less idea what to do in the face of ambivalence and moderation than the modern Republican party? This is the kind of disappointment that confuses fanatics, demotivates their followers, and saps them of energy. It's the kind of ambiguous result makes the real fanatics say 'Oh my god the results are dire, DIRE!' And the followers go... 'I dunno, it looks like we kinda won... We definitely gained some stuff...' so the more the most extreme extremists scream and yell, the more the followers stop listening

There are still so many problems. No matter what happens now, if Twitter use decreases but social media use keeps increasing, there is literally no communication between the political wings of American life - and misinformation will go into still higher gear and can quickly undo all the good this election did in decreasing Trump's credibility. The real fanatics will be as motivated as ever if not more, and they have hundreds of millions of guns or access thereof. China is sliding to totalitarianism on a scale that sometimes makes Putin look like Roosevelt, and Xi is determined to build an unchallenged economic empire in the Eastern Hemisphere that makes America's look like the purest socialism - he may be willing to take us all to war to make it happen. There is no scenario in which the Supreme Court does not make life as easy for the far right as they can possibly make it - including throwing out as many Trump charges as they can. The world economy is still teetering on a cliff, and if Putin has permanently stalled the global supply chain, there is no way Trump does not look like a great option to millions more than he does currently. There is still a chance that state officials will not sign off on Democratic presidential victory. And that's all before we even get to solving any actual long term problems.

But one thing at a time. No problem is solved overnight. Never believe the overwhelming victory. Those are the ones that have unforeseen consequences. In politics as in life, the most important victories to celebrate are the ambivalent partial victories that are fought so much harder than the victories to which you trounce the opposition. Partial victories are inevitably the hardest fought battles, and therefore the ones most needed to be celebrated because we have to remind ourselves that even by not completely winning, we won.

So even if you don't feel great today, feel great today. It's your moral obligation. You earned this, we earned this. This is what winning feels like, it's bittersweet and not as much fun as its cracked up to be.

What you're hopefully feeling right now isn't joy or elation, it's relief. And if you don't feel it yet, you will.