Now, however, we have a new lament, which is that the next President inherits a "nation divided" -- split, as the recent cover of Time magazine has it, "over its place in the world, over its basic values, over its future direction. No matter who wins, the Uncivil War is likely to continue."
Excuse us for asking, but has it ever not been thus? Adams and Jefferson; Jackson and Quincy Adams (and Clay); Hayes and Tilden; Johnson and Goldwater; Nixon and McGovern; Bush and Dukakis -- these were not notably nice contests. Even a forgotten election -- 1884's Grover Cleveland ("Ma, Ma, Where's My Pa?") versus James G. Blaine ("The Continental Liar from the State of Maine") -- wasn't notably nice. Elections shouldn't be nice since they are fundamentally about apportioning power. In North Korea, elections are very nice.
We'll grant that this election is different from most recent ones, and the excitement it has generated is proportionate to the sense of what's at stake. The country is at war. The homeland -- as Osama bin Laden reminded us over the weekend -- is vulnerable to fresh attacks. And Americans divide over how best, or even whether, to fight such a war.
But, again, remember it was no different in 1776 (when a third of the country wanted no part of Independence) or 1812 (over which the Northeastern states considered secession), or 1848 (which the Whig Party, including Abraham Lincoln, considered illegal), or 1864 (when the Union Democrats fielded their first peace-in-our-time candidate), or even 1968 (riots in the streets) -- except that the political divisions then dwarfed whatever separates most Americans today.
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For all the talk of a 50-50 country, our differences tend to be narrow rather than deep.
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None of this is to say that the differences dividing the parties are trivial. They are significant and fiercely held. But it is America's fortune that its parties are forced, if not by conviction then by necessity, to tilt the country their way first by reaching centerward, where the bulk of the electorate sits. As a result, whatever our private feelings about tonight's result, we'll be able to live with whoever is elected. Criticism resumes tomorrow.
