The morning after

As one reader said last night, "Glad you were wrong." Thank God, America appears to have at last repudiated the poisonous, destructive politics of the past. A ban on gay marriage in California may be the last hurrah, for awhile, for the "values voters" who never seem to have social justice or equality as a value. Minnesota: How could the land of Humphrey even come close to re-electing Norm Coleman? Arizona: So typical, so sad.

But good news abounds. Democrats increased their seats in Congress, unusual in a cycle after winning control. High-speed rail appears headed for a decisive victory in California, as well as big wins for transit projects in Northern and Southern California and Seattle. Elizabeth Dole, a onetime moderate Republican who allowed herself to be yoked to the most despicable extremist campaigning was thrown out. The once proud Republican Party finds itself reduced to a regional redoubt in the white South and the libertarian and Southernized parts of the country. And we have President-elect Obama. Thank God.

Now the hard work begins. Rather than discuss the policies needed for the new administration, let's begin with a more fundamental, foundational task. After years of distractions about gays, "the real America," red states vs. blue, color-coded terror threat levels, the right to bring guns in bars, socialism, blah-blah-blah, we must begin the difficult task of returning to the reality-based world.

Reality is an overstretched military, with incoherent strategic objectives and a bill that will bankrupt us. It is frayed alliances, unnecessary tensions, decades of diplomatic work destroyed and all of this making us less safe from real threats. It is also recognizing that Islamic extremism is not worth the hysteria whipped up by the Republicans since 9/11 — Good grief, we defeated the Nazis, Japanese Empire and Soviet Union, and lived for years under the threat of nuclear annhilation, usually with good spirits and sangfroid.

Reality is a broken economy. The casino mentality has stretched from the swindlers in charge of Wall Street to the low-wage workers spending their paychecks out at the real casinos on the rez. It is the discernment to know the difference between real things and real work, and frauds that their proponents can't really explain (e.g., derivatives) or, as Jim Kunstler puts it, "the culture of unearned riches." It is a hollowed out manufacturing sector, flawed trade environment, middle-class under siege and historic levels of debt — all unsustainable. We are now a poorer nation because of the fraud, deregulation and movement of wealth from the bottom to the top.

Reality is an infrastructure worn down by years of tax-cut-caused neglect, and a transportation system that is largely stuck in 1965, when oil was cheap and abundant and the nation was less populous and urbanized. Those days are gone. Unaddressed, this ailing infrastructure will make it impossible for America to even maintain its standard of living in a competitive world.

Reality is, as the president-elect often says, a planet in peril. It is recognition of the science about global warming, the consequences of which are hitting sooner and worse than expected. They will be dire, from the Third World to the American Southwest — and for those who only see the world in dollars, they will bring severe economic costs. The challenge is also addressable and an economic and scientific, even a social, opportunity.

Reality is a new paradigm about resources, especially oil and water. Peak oil is real — happening now or very soon, and no alternatives can match the low cost, refining efficiency or output of the light sweet crude which is now in inexorable decline. This will put continued stress on suburbia that refuses to refit for the future. It will be a cause of international tension and perhaps worse.

Reality is the damage done to the Constitution and small-r republican government by Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, Delay, Frist, McConnell and all the other unindicted, or indicted, co-conspirators in the effort to create light fascism in America. We torture as policy and wage pre-emptive war. We have shredded the liberties of American citizens. The president has used signing statements to arrogate total power. The rule of law hangs in the balance.

Reality is a frayed social contract and social fabric. We have been led by men who have done a pretty good job of convincing Americans that they owe nothing to the nation that allows them to make money, owe nothing to the commons or to future generations. That there is a free lunch. Its handmaiden is the conservative contempt for education and science, which is having real-world consequences in economic competitiveness, but equally serious damage from, as conservative darling Allan Bloom put it, "the closing of the American mind."

Reality is tough but oh, so much better than the fool's faith of the Bush years. Recognizing reality is the first step to putting America back together. It is the slap in the face that says now is the time for sacrifice, inspiration, mutuality and common purpose — American values. Now the hard work begins.