Ain't nothing but blue skies, from now on

Progressive, friendly politics.

It WORKS, guys.

Our man ain't all that, but what he's proved isn't about himself - it's about America. We've seen so much to fear and worry about here in the rest of the world (especially those of us, like me, who've never been able to visit) that it's been hard sometimes to hold to basic faith in humanity - that the silent majority really are good, decent, unbiased people, who value intelligence and honesty and don't care about the colour of someone's skin. Who won't be swayed by smears and lies.

The fearful, hateful people are always going to be louder and more visible - it's the nature of the beast. And the media will always keep reporting them, because fear and hatred are news. So it's hard to remember that they're not representative - that while the evil things always happen somewhere else, there's a great deal of somewhere else and our own safe, comfortable, leafy streets and vibrant multicultural centres are the rule and not the exception.

To borrow a phrase from fjm, the authoritarian right are trying to scoop up tadpoles in their hands, and we're wriggling through their fingers. People always talk about the gaps in society, the little places "nobody" sees - the ones that aren't watched by the government, reported by the media, controlled by hierarchies. Those little gaps? They're everywhere. We live in them. As for the all-covering net of Society... think of a wedding veil, with the groom's mother hurrying and cutting corners to get it finished, while the bride and groom (or the groom and the other groom, for that matter!) go dancing through the streets and showering confetti as they go.

Bigots, bullies, and authoritarians always shout loudest, and always want to tell us what to do.

But that's what secret ballots were invented for - so that all of us got an equal voice for once.