Knocked down? Time to get back up!

I'm still reeling from the un-reality of it all.

I think my sister summed it up well when she said:

i think they'll get a few surprises pretty fast : the economy will tank, the taxes will go up, their jobs will go to calcutta and their kids will be drafted to iraq. but of course, hetero marriage has been protected so maybe they'll figure it's a fair trade

Not to dwell to long on what's happened, but part of me wonders if her absentee ballot even got counted, given that it was mailed from France and was for Kerry...

But we can't get stuck in our outrage or disappointment. Let us not forget that, despite Bush now proclaiming that he has a "strong mandate" from the people, Kerry got more votes (55.5 million) than any other president in history — the previous leader being Reagan in '84 with 54 million.

As usual, Joshua Marshall sees both the bad:

Before today, the course that America had charted in the world over the last three years could be seen as the result of a traumatic event (9/11) and the choice of a president who was actually put in office by a minority of the electorate. This was a referendum on what's happened in the last three years. And it's been validated.

with the good:

[An article by Simon Rosenberg, the head of the New Dem Network] was about create a Democratic-leaning counter-establishment along the lines of what Republicans did two generations ago — with an alternative media, activist groups, organized political giving, in short a political infrastructure.

...

Leave today for disappointment. Tomorrow, think over which of these various groups and organizations you think has made the best start toward what I've described above, go to their website, and give money or volunteer. ... Tomorrow's the day to start.

I'm done licking my wounds. I'm re-doubling my efforts to create trusted identities as they are the basis for trusted communities — just one of many efforts needed to foster a better informed and more compassionate world.