I also hope that whoever wins the popular vote wins the election, especially in the wake of 2000. I don’t know that our political system can survive another challenge to its integrity of that kind. Even if it did, how many people would walk away for good from the idea of participatory democracy?

The good news? At the polls today, I saw nothing but courtesy and good behavior — including toward Republican volunteers in highly Democratic-dominated Brooklyn. I also saw a lot of people who were obviously first-time voters, although middle aged — they were being shown how to operate the levers.

I wish all elections could be this galvanizing — while realizing that sometimes it is the worst events that produce the highest voter turnout.

Above all, I wish that whoever wins the election, we will all, somehow, be able to bury this deep anger that exists on both sides of the political spectrum. It is terrifying and destructive. Not to mention antagonistic to everything this country stands for, at its best. Our politicians may be mocked, but the only way we destroy ourselves in the world’s eye permanently is by our own collective behavior — and not just in the voting booth. So I hope that those who voted for today’s runner-up will not take refuge in their anger, but channel that emotion into something constructive.

here endeth my personal rant of the day.