Election hangover

I'm still a little hung over from the election--it's a feeling of vague depression. But there it is. The Republican party managed to not only win the electoral college vote but also gain an overall majority of the popular vote.

Of course, they did it by dividing the country, or at least more so than it was. Blue in the West, North Central and North East. Red in the Middle and South, including the swing states of Ohio and Florida. Just enough for the new Republican mandate. Division over faith and morality.

The definition of the Republcan, Evangelical Morality is simple. No on personal choice (abortion rights), no on gay marriage or even civil unions. This new Morality does not extend to lying to the American public about WMD in Iraq in order to finish Daddy's war, nor does it extend to deals with the Saudis. It doesn't even extend to the extension of large tax breaks to the very rich and big corporations at the expense of the lower and middle class, the tax breaks that are driving up the nation's deficit to record levels.

When will the Republican's biggest constituency not counting Big Business, that is white, less educated males in the lower to middle income tax bracket, wake up to the fact that they are not better off in this climate? Good jobs are being outsourced out of the country in the quest to increase profits, replaced by minimum wage service jobs (do you want to supersize those fries?). Maybe they won't and will remain satisfied with the extra $200 bucks here and there and the idea that Big Government is being reduced (it's not, not by a long shot).

Maybe this is the way for quite some time to come. Maybe it's time to see if these divisions can be "healed." I find it hard to beliveve that the period of healing after this bitter election will last one day after the start of the next Congressional session.

After all, they have a mandate.