OK, what next?

“In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on”.
Robert Frost

I've got to say, that the opinion industry really has painted a pretty sad picture of the Democratic party over the past week. We all know that Bush won, and that the results in congress were even more discouraging for the Dems. The cover story of "The Week" has a sad looking little anemic blue donkey sitting in the middle of a map of red-state heartland America, with the lead reading "Lost in America: Where do the Democrats go from here?".

OK, it is true that our winner-take-all system pretty much dispenses with the losing side. But the losing party of a general election is a LOT more relevant than the losing team in the World Series. The losing side this time around still represents 48% of the American electorate! That's a lot of voters. The fact that the strategists on both sides ended up giving the win to Bush's team doesn't change that.

Long after the Swift Boat Vets, and the wolves in the forest, and the gay marriage amendment, and the bulge in Bush's back fade into the mists of political history, we still have to deal with reality. Whether you are a red-American or a blue-American, you still have to deal with terrorism. You still need health care. You still need social security. And whether you agree with the president's plans or you don't, you still need to address these and countless more issues, again and again.

So everyone stop slapping yourself on the back, or wallowing in regrets (depending on how you voted), and get to work! We have a country to run, here.