I promised myself at the beginning that I wouldn’t get political on this site.  Politics are too divisive, and that’s just not the kind of thing I’m trying to do here.  But, all good rules get broken eventually, and after this week’s election there’s something I really want to say.

I’ve come to realize over the last few years that the American people are amazingly patient.  Looking at us as a group, we like to give our leaders the benefit of the doubt, and we tend to give them more chances than to get it right than they really deserve.  Even when we disagree, and we do obviously disagree strongly with each other, we still basically want things to work out.  Despite the ever-increasing vitriol hurled by both sides, the country as a whole is usually willing to wait a little longer, and see if somebody can get it together.

But there does come a time when even the most patient, the most forgiving, and the most optimistic among us have to admit that it’s just not working.  Whatever your political leanings may be, no well-informed and intellectually honest person can pretend that things have been going well for the last few years.  Different factions are upset for different reasons, of course, but almost everyone agrees that our leaders aren’t getting it right.  And the American public, notoriously slow to care about politics and even slower to react, has now acted more decisively than it has in over a dozen years.

There are many (myself included) who have been frustrated that this action didn’t come sooner.  Much long-lasting damage has been done that could have been avoided if the public had woken up earlier.  But now, looking back with the momentary relief of impending change, I wonder if it’s not better this way.  Is it perhaps part of the wisdom of the American system that the pendulum doesn’t change direction too quickly?

Of course, a public that waits too long to act risks losing its freedom to act at all.  But a public that acts too soon risks many different types of chaos, not the least of which is the paralysis and moral bankruptcy of a government run by the opinion of the moment.  Maybe it’s better to let things go too far before correcting course - but that’s quite a dangerous game of brinksmanship.

The near-universal displeasure with the current situation might inspire tighter oversight on many different levels, but I’m not counting on it.  Even at this extremely critical moment, with so much hanging in the balance, we still had a voter turnout of only around 40%.  Some of those who didn’t vote are making their own statement by staying home, but I think most are simply apathetic.  If the almost complete ineptitude of our current government, along with the seriousness of the myriad crises we’re facing right now, doesn’t inspire more Americans to take an interest, it’s hard to imagine what will.  If danger and disaster are what it takes to motivate voters, then I hope I never see the state of affairs that’s bad enough to get an 80% turnout.