I had no idea how stressed out I was by the looming Presidential election until after it was over. (Mainly because I swore to myself after the Bush/Gore debacle that I would never get that upset over politics again. Which didn't really work, as you can see. Apparently I was just as upset about this election, but repressing it.)

Wow — what a difference! A whole new lightness, brain and body, head to toe, inside and out.

Because this election was a fulcrum, a turning point. And even though I was trying to be cool about it, I knew it in my bones.

Had the majority of voters in America been backwards enough to believe what the Republican Right is saying and doing these days, it would have been a very bad sign indeed. Adding 4 years of Romney-rule to the 8 years of Bush-rule that we are still trying to recover from might have made recovery really, truly impossible.

And who knows? Maybe it is impossible. Maybe, like every other democracy so far in history, we will turn — have turned? —  into an oligarchy run by the rich and powerful who dominate the masses by spending money, putting on circuses and making small concessions.

But also maybe, just maybe, we could become a democracy that lasts.

One where people work together to govern themselves.

At least we have a shot at that now. At least we have a President who understands that lying, blaming, smearing and finger pointing are the shadow of human interaction, not the substance.