Well, that didn't go well at all.
About the time I left work here in southern California on election night, there were ominous rumblings in the media. The polls were closing in the East, and the early results of the presidential election were favoring Donald Trump far more strongly than anyone besides Trump, himself, had expected.
After putting our son to bed, my wife and I stayed up for a couple of awful hours watching the bad news come in on television. One state after another went to Trump and that damned electoral map turned redder and redder. It was an unhappy evening. Frowns were frowned, profanities uttered, and drinks drunk.
By the time we turned in, there was only the faintest hope for Clinton. The western states, at least, were blue. Our backs against the sea.
I lay awake half the night in a state of worried delirium. Wondering if there was really any hope that those still-pink states could turn blue. Angry and astonished that so many people could make what I believed to be such a bad choice. Praying to God that it could be changed. But mostly staring into the darkness and worrying.
At one point I got out of bed and went to the computer. The New York Times website said, simply, "TRUMP TRIUMPHS." I went back to bed.
At this point I have nothing constructive to add to the post-election analysis. The aftermath of the election, conduct of the campaign, concerns of the electorate, issues addressed and evaded will all be picked apart quite thoroughly by experts, pundits, and posers far more experienced and better-rested than some liberal, suburban wannabe blogger.
But this seems to be a pretty good moment for reflection. Heaven knows the Democratic Party will be doing plenty of it. So why not me, too? I've got just as much right to blather on as anybody.
This feels like a unique and terrible moment in history. Wars, climate change, terrorism, and an enormous refugee crisis are profound problems happening all at once that urgently need the attention of competent leaders. It's difficult to see how these problems and more can be turned around under the best circumstances, let alone given the political quagmire in which we've stuck ourselves.
A hundred years from now, if we're lucky, this election will be no more than a historical curiosity. In a thousand years, it will be little remembered, if at all. Eventually the heat-death of the universe will finally erase from the fabric of existence itself all traces of this train-wreck and the culpability for it which we all share.
In the meantime, here we are. While we're waiting we might as well make the best of it.
The morning after the election, I had a nasty but well-deserved headache. Nonetheless, against all odds, the sun rose. And it was a beautiful morning. After breakfast I sat down with my son and we read a book together.
