Democracy (Sort of)

Unless you factor that whole Electoral College thing into the equation. But that's a rant for middle school government class.

One thing's for sure -- there are going to be a lot of angry, disappointed, resigned people tomorrow. Very nearly half of the country will just about lose faith in the government all over again. Remember 2000 and 2004?

It seems like most people I talk to has a whole lot invested in this. My conservative friends are afraid that Obama will give people a little too much assistance in the midst of this economic crisis and thereby entirely subvert every American's work ethic, or open the borders, or that he'll let gay people get married (which would somehow undermine the legitimacy of every heterosexual marriage...I still don't understand how). My liberal friends are afraid McCain will continue the war (and maybe start some new ones), draft an entire generation of American men, give tons of money to evil corporations and nothing to struggling families, melt down glaciers in hopes of finding oil, and start testing nukes in blue-leaning cities.

Of course that's mostly hogwash. Sure, McCain had to act like Bush to win the primaries, but I'd guess that he's still the same moderate Republican he was back in 2000. And even FDR's (and Al Smith's) sweeping reforms that increased assistance to Americans didn't turn us into a nation of lazy dirty rotten commies.

Neither of them will be able to do everything they've said they can do, so the other side can take comfort, regardless of who wins.

It's too bad that conservatives and liberals alike expect so much of their respective candidates. Conservatives want McCain to be John Wayne. They need someone to shoot the bad guys and pistol whip the whiny little sissies who want more help from the government and to get out of Iraq. Liberals are expecting Barack Skywalker to vanquish Darth Cheney and Emperor Bush and restore justice, freedom, and peace to the world.

Those are some tall orders.