Time to quell the monsters

I am overjoyed about Tuesday night and wish I could have been in Grant Park for the electricity that I heard about secondhand.

Besides the joy I am feeling, I'm also exhausted, from school, work and travel - not to mention the thought of all that lies ahead of us. All I have energy for is to share this blog post, from Nobel Prize-winning Paul Krugman.

Last night wasn’t just a victory for tolerance; it wasn’t just a mandate for progressive change; it was also, I hope, the end of the monster years.

What I mean by that is that for the past 14 years America’s political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to terrorists. Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people.

And in our national discourse, we pretended that these monsters were reasonable, respectable people. To point out that the monsters were, in fact, monsters, was “shrill.”

Four years ago it seemed as if the monsters would dominate American politics for a long time to come. But for now, at least, they’ve been banished to the wilderness.

Amen.

Comments

[blue girl]

That was just really, really great.

Even though I've been getting nutty emails from my Republican friends saying that Obama's going *destroy* America, I am still so extremely happy and hopeful for what we can do over the next four to eight years.

And I'm happy to be feeling hopeful instead of feeling hatred towards the monsters. Be gone with those monsters!

[Jennifer]

Claire- I actually had tickets to Grant Park, but other things kept me away. I still felt all of the hope and glee spilling off of the TV screen! I am also happy to be feeling hopeful and join in with a rousing, "Be GONE with those monsters!"

[lisa]

amen, indeed.