Serving the reality-based community for the next four years...

Someone commented below that the country "has already gone to hell, and it is not worth a single breath of ours to try and fix it." And it's not just people reading this blog. Lefties everywhere seem to be bashing America and each other, as well as Ohio and "middle Americans." I understand that this sentiment stems from rage and disappointment and sadness. I am right there with you on certain levels.

People are talking about abandoning the Democrats along with the country. That's not productive. We have to keep sight of the reason why we put so much of ourselves into this election. Bad leaders were doing terrible things to our country and pretending it was best for us. Power-hungry bigots and corporate shills were bankrupting our future for short-term profits and telling us we should be too scared of the boogey man to care. They governed on fear and campaigned on fear and told us things were getting better, as long as we cower under our desks. And it worked on just a few too many people this time.

But this is just one battle in the fight. We need to learn from our failures and build on them. These people out-maneuvered us this time. But it's only the end if we let it be the end.

I got a very inspirational email from Howard Dean today. He talked about the small victories we won't be hearing about.

Montana, one of the reddest states, has a new Democratic governor.

First-time candidates for state legislatures from Hawaii to Connecticut beat incumbent Republicans.

And a record number of us voted to change course -- more Americans voted against George Bush than any sitting president in history.

Dean also went on to quote Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Too many things matter to me about this place to just give up because I'm feeling down.