As I write this, it looks like a gala evening for the G.O.P. and a bad one for the Democrats. I'm disappointed for a few reasons. One is that, as my estimation of all public officials in both parties plunges, I've come to like the notion of divided government. I think most elected officials are pretty awful in both ethics and in performance of their duties…and I think they're at their lowest when they think they're all-powerful. Another reason is that I believe Bush, Cheney and many of their buddies should be investigated at least as thoroughly as Whitewater and Clinton's genitalia were investigated and that will never happen with Republicans in control.
And I guess I'm disappointed in a few races that misrepresenting your opponent and the issues seems to work as well as it ever did. That was my biggest beef with the first President Bush. I wasn't bothered when someone voted for him because they thought he was the best man. I was disappointed in my country when they voted for him because they thought Michael Dukakis was going to let all the murderers out of prison or that our democracy was somehow threatened by flag-burning.
Right this minute, the Minnesota Senate race is still uncalled, but Mondale's running back and the guys on CNN are saying it's because voters were upset that the memorial service for Paul Wellstone was too partisan. If voters went for Mr. Coleman because they thought he'd better serve their state, fine. I don't know enough about him to say he would or wouldn't. But to vote for him for any other reason is, I'm sorry, stupid. He did not become more competent, nor did Mondale become less so, just because of how a memorial service was run. (And I think Republicans, grasping for a quick issue to use against Mondale, did a good job of selling that event as much more partisan than it actually was.)
Lastly, I guess I'm disappointed for the same reason I'm usually disappointed in elections, no matter how they turn out. It's that we can't rise beyond the notion that winning is all that matters; that everything the other side does is to be condemned and spun and even lied about, if necessary, while the sins of your side are denied or ignored. I think both political parties in this country have behaved abominably and broken laws and taken money they shouldn't have taken. And I don't think I have any respect left for people who only want to talk about the crimes and shoddy ethics of the other side. Only when absolutely pressed to the wall will Republicans do anything about Republican wrongdoing or will Democrats condemn Democratic shenanigans. If you win, you get away with it all.
If the Republicans control the Senate after tonight, it won't matter that much to me except in the ways just stated. First of all, after Florida, it's now Standard Operating Procedure to re-fight some votes with court action and charges of fraud, and to talk of party-switching, so it may get undone. Even if it isn't undone, the pendulum eventually swings back and unexpected things happen even before it does. Maybe Bush will be a bit less eager to go to war with Iraq now that he has to start thinking about 2004. Maybe Democrats will get their act together and find some better candidates than what they've offered us in the past. I had to vote for Gray Davis today and, believe me, it didn't feel good.
I think I understand why people vote Libertarian or Green or for some other party that hasn't a chance in hell of electing anyone. I can't believe that too many people, Democrats or Republicans, felt that wonderful about the votes they cast today. Unless, of course, all they cared about was winning.