First reaction to the midterm elections, while the votes are being counted:

1) We live in a deeply divided country: the twin fantasies of the silent conservative majority and the inevitable progressive juggernaut are just that, fantasies. Leftists have a slight numerical majority, while conservatives enjoy a geographical advantage and an enthusiasm edge. Victory is never guaranteed.

2) Party polarization is the norm: the MSM talks about the ‘extremism’ of the Republican Party, and they have a point. Since at least 2010, several weak candidates have won primaries on a purist platform, and it has cost elections. But the same phenom affects the Democrat Party. Democrats lost two close elections today, with fake moderate Bill Nelson finally getting his just desserts, and flaming leftist Andrew Gillum losing by a small margin. Actual moderates would likely have pulled it off. Activists in both parties prefer purity to electoral success.

3) Get ready for Speaker Pelosi. Again. Democrats seem to have won a small but workable majority in the House, with few ‘moderate’ members. Expect investigations soon.

4) On to brighter news, Cocaine Mitch expanded his majority, though it is not clear by how much. At any rate, expect the judicial appointments train to accelerate, as the expanded Senate majority will make it harder to Democrats to block conservative judges.

5) Big government is popular with a considerable portion of the American people. The biggest issue of the left this election cycle was Medicare expansion, and it didn’t seem to hurt them.

6) Beto O’Rourke is not going anywhere. He captured the imagination of leftist activists, raised ungodly piles of cash, and ambition runs through his veins. Expect him to run for the presidential nomination. He has a chance.

7) Ballot initiatives are trash, because voters are ignorant.

8) Still no constituency for reducing the debt. Dems ran on expanding Medicare, while Republicans ran on tax cuts, again. We have several fiscal disasters coming our way, and almost no one in a position of power is looking to do anything about it. Calvin Coolidge couldn’t win an election for city commissioner.

Overall this was a disappointing day, though not a disastrous one. The Blue Wave crashed early, bringing Democrats a win, but not a sweep.