But maybe there are other courses to take.  Here are some other ideas:

Spread the Good More Evenly -- Kerry lost Ohio by under 137,000 votes. Kerry won New York by 1,186,298 votes. So we could send enough New Yorkers to Ohio to take that key state, and still have roughly a million Democratic votes to spare. There has to be a way to do this legally.

It’s really cheap to live in the Midwest. Perhaps some of us artsy-fartsy easterners ought to take up residence there, live cheap, have each other for company, cast our votes, and perhaps even change a small, conservative, religious mind or two.

The Civics Requirement -- The other Me Three editor suggested that every U.S. citizen should be required to pass a basic civics test before being allowed to register to vote. This idea reminds one of John Stuart Mill’s ideas about Representative Government. Mill didn’t trust the masses to know enough to vote smartly, so he thought that there ought to be a carefully selected elite that would represent their interests. The civics test would be a compromise between this and pure democracy – it would still allow every American the opportunity to vote, but it would require that they take a minimal interest in making an educated vote.

Then again, perhaps we do need to have a select few who represent the interests of the masses, because the masses clearly cannot be trusted to do it themselves at this point.

Canada, Mind if We Come In? -- We could start a secession movement. Or join Canada (and Canada would indeed be much more powerful than what would be left of the United States if all of the blue states participated in the realignment, with the major financial and cultural centers part of the secession):

You people can have your heartland…

The Religious Left? -- We could pretend to be religious until after the election four years from now. That’s what Republican leaders do now, and it seems to work for them.

But then again, that’s letting the idiots win, in a way. We shouldn’t cater to their ignorance just to attract their vote. Instead, we should try to alleviate their ignorance. We should remind them over and over and over that this country is meant to be based on a separation of church and state. Do all of the praying and worshipping you want in your personal life, but don’t try to base governmental policy on your faith. That old adage that your rights end at the imaginary line where they begin to infringe on the rights of another is important to keep in mind, always. Faith-based initiatives impinge on the rights of those who do not choose to follow that certain faith. It therefore impinges on their freedom of religion.

Unity, Never! -- What we should NOT do is fall for this “unity” bullshit. I’m sure that in private, Kerry agrees, even though he promoted it in his concession speech. Unity is the worst thing we could achieve right now. We NEED dissent, and we need it bad. The Republicans don’t actually mean “unity” anyway. What they mean to say "compliant," or "submissive," or some such.  No they don't want us to unite.  They want us to acquiesce.

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Finally, let me say that I am not entirely convinced that this was a fair election.  There is still a part of the me that refuses to believe that a majority of this country can't see what is right in front of them.  If it wasn't fair, the Republicans did a masterful job of rigging things.  If it was fair, they did a masterful job of brainwashing folks with their lies.

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