If Bush is declared the winner, it’s time to look ahead at what it will mean. And by looking ahead, I don’t mean putting a hopeful spin on things. Here’s what’s occurring to me.

This election has shown that we still live in a deeply polarized nation, even after 9/11. If Bush wins, it will be with a bare majority of the popular vote. If you add the left-leaning people who voted for Nader and other independents, and the fence-sitters who decided to give Bush another chance, maybe it’s not a majority at all.

And I believe that this victory will come with a great price for Bush and the Republicans. The War in Iraq is only going to get worse and worse; it will continue to drag on, and will only get more unpopular over time. It’s going to cost all of us more and more. And in the end, it will cost them votes.

It’s true that the Republicans have a majority in Congress. But if you think the Democrats fought hard over the last three years, wait until you see them over the next four. Ordinary people have been mobilized by this election, and a new generation of serious thinkers and engagers has risen up (I include myself; three years ago I never would have volunteered or given money to a political campaign. But I did this time.) These new progressive voices for change and justice will not be silenced. The lawmakers do not and cannot determine our futures. We will be writing letters, making calls, and taking to the streets. After coming so close and seeing such horrific things, in our own lifetime, the era of apathy is over for us.

If Kerry loses, I don’t think he will be given another chance. So who will that leave for 2008? Maybe Howard Dean. Maybe there are some Democratic strategists who are kicking thmselves over this twist of destiny, asking themselves how things might have been different had the primaries chosen a REAL anti-war candidate. Then again, maybe the strategists aren’t thinking that at all. Maybe it will take another southern Democratic (who the hell would that be?) Or maybe it will take Hillary Clinton in 2008.

If Bush goes back to work in January, he will be inheriting a divided nation–one that, ironically, he himself helped to create. He has no one to thank or blame aside from his own administration. Democrats have learned from the lessons of 2000, and they will not go gently into this good night. There is going to be ugly partisan bickering, and deadlocking. Barack Obama has a hard road ahead of him, but I believe he can somehow be a positive force in the Senate. He has shown he can run a campaign without resorting to negativity. There’s a chance that even in a bitterly divided Senate, lawmakers will respond well to that.

I am fearful for the future makeup of the Supreme Court.

I know part of me is being idealistic. But remember this. Unless Bush and Co. undergo a radical personality shift and drastically switch philosophies (which I doubt they will), they are only going to make things in this country worse. The economy will sputter, the war will drain away money, nothing will be done about the healthcare situation, more countries around the world will leave us to our own devices. And Bush will be digging his own grave. Because maybe in a country like ours where so many people have willfully blinded themselves to the truth, things are going to have to get even worse before people finally wise up. And if Bush gets a second term, things will get much much worse. And in awhile, karma is going to bite half of this country in the ass. You watch it happen.