Quite a few people are angry. Some might even be looking for payback. Sure, the Republicans will talk a good game, like they’re all sunshine and sweetness. But really, we won’t be sure whom to trust. They’ll act like the entire nation as a whole has handed an enormous mandate to them. They acted that way after the 2012 election, though, when no one can argue in the slightest way that they won.

Those of us who had high hopes for certain candidates to come in and shake things up will ponder what happened. But we shouldn’t count any of those people out just because of this one election. They stood up to the cabal of old white dudes, and clearly rattled them. If the Republicans think liberals and progressives are just going to roll over, I’m sure a few will. But most won’t. Regardless, it will be hard to look away from whatever is coming next. I didn’t mean that in a good way. That’s more like it. Everything will seem crazy for a while, perhaps. And more than a few newly-elected officials pretty much are crazy by most objective standards. It will be frustrating, to put it in the politest terms possible. Republicans may try to fall back on their old habits, when faced with any sort of challenge, of starting wars. Or they might try to continue to play the “poor, oppressed me” gambit, as though they don’t actually control the entire legislative branch of government. I’m sure the leadership of the Democratic Party will show the same amount of vision and fortitude that…..okay, I’m kidding. They mostly acted like dweebs. One might even say that in some cases, the Republicans didn’t win their races as much as the Democrats lost them. But now is the time to start doing something about all of it, so maybe it won’t happen again. (i.e. quit yer bitchin’) And even if you can’t do anything about it this exact minute, you can find some way to rise above the cynicism and despair that they are depending on.

After all, we’re all Americans, and that makes us family.