now what.

So Bush has won. It's finally over. Only, it's not. The next four years could be some of the worst yet. Bush may have won, and he can now retreat back into the White House, but the rest of us have to live out here with each other. I listened to NPR on the way back from class, Talk of the Nation was interviewing voters. I know how much some people hate Bush, but the depth of this women's anger was amazing. All she could say was how she couldn't believe so many people were so deceived, and how worried she was for the future of the country. Michele Catalano has a brilliant post about this.

I woke up to a very different world in which people I assumed were rational Democrats are spitting poison nails. I received some nasty emails and comments (since deleted) that were alarming in their venom and hatred. People I never had a harsh word with were suddenly knocking down my virtual door to leaving the equivalent of letter bombs. This did not frighten me so much as make me sad. I can say with all honesty that, had Kerry won this election, I would have done no such thing. But, that's just me.

I did read through some of the near lunatic fringe of the left today. Sad state of affairs, really. They seem to be so overcome by bitterness and anger that their emotions are getting in the way of rational thinking. How else do you explain the call to arms, the threats to join al Qaeda, the pleas for violent uprising, or the wishful thinking for a terrorist attack to happen now?

And here we go again with the "illegitimate" election fantasies. The whole basis of argument for the left in recent times has been "if I don't agree with it, it must be a lie." This has never been more evident than right now. Witness: This election is a fraud, a sham. The Republicans (sorry, Rethuglicans) cheated their way through another vote. The vote counts are all wrong. The machines were fixed. Someone was paid off. And, of course, the exit polls were rigged. Even if Bush were to win both the Electoral vote and the popular vote, his win would be decried as illegal. Perhaps that is what is driving the hate today; the fact that there is nothing to point to in order to support the cries of another fake presidency.

These people are not going to go away. They have spent the campaign season organizing, shaping their ideas, coming together. The right has not done anything on the scale the left has except for blog; powerful, but a way to create thousands of opinions to look at and weigh, not to purify a consistent ideology. The left is prepared, they are ready, and they have a new source of anger to motivate them. Markos Moulitsas of dailykos.com has an article in the Guardian that talks about this very thing.

It's a bitter pill to swallow, but one that should hopefully lead to a brighter future. Bush owns his messes, and now he'll be forced to clean them up. He won't be able to hide behind 9/11 seven years into his term. Unless the Republicans can engineer a recovery of epic proportions, they will have a great deal to answer to in the 2006 midterms and 2008. And God help Bush if this nation suffers another terrorist attack.

But best of all, we'll continue to see this great resurgence in progressive activism - the kind not seen in American politics in over a generation. None of these new activists heeded the call to arms only to abandon the fight today. We are energized, and will continue to fight for a better future for our country.

[...]

The United States is a bitterly divided nation, at war with itself. Tuesday was merely one battle in a long-term war for the heart and soul of our nation. There will be the usual blather about unity and nonesuch, but the time for that is past. Bush has won himself four additional years to further inflict damage upon the world. Half of of the US public is not happy about that tonight.

In the meantime, we will be training our forces, re-evaluating our tactics, marshalling our strength, and, ultimately, keeping our eyes on the prize.

That delights me. People are inspired, are working to change the world according to what they think is right. I'm even happy these people have such a strong opposition to what I believe, although mentions of Nazi's get annoyed. To have all these people, checking my facts, questioning whether my interpretation is correct, believing my point of view is completely wrong, is a great gift. It keeps me honest

However, there is another side that worries me. Gore lost in large part because a significant number of conservatives had eight years to plan and smolder and define an ideology that had no place for Gore. Now the tables have turned, and unless Bush finds some way to defuse this anger we are set up for a dangerous seesaw, and even more division. Unfortunately, as much as I may agree with Bush on many things, I do not see him doing that. If Bush felt he had authority to redefine the government as much as he has so far, what will he do now that he has won with a clear majority. This is a chance for Bush to work for the good of the country, to keep his "uniter, not a divider" promise, to make this administration one to be remembered for great things. He does not need to worry about reelection or setting the stage for Cheney, he can act as he sees fit. If he does so wisely, the country will come together, and people on both sides who try to play against the middle will drop off.

If he does not, however, the anger that exists on the left right now will remain and smolder, and the Republicans will be marginalized in 2008.