"...and you still break stone."

On the eve of the election, my main man George Will is bringing everyone back down to earth (or at least everyone who reads George Will, who were probably fairly earth-bound to begin with).

He has two main points. The first is that either president-elect is going to have conflicts with the Congress upon being sworn in for next term. The second is that government, while important, will not change the "basic conditions of life," at least not on the turn of a dime.

I agree. It's true that while we shouldn't be devaluing elections, particularly this one, we should always remember that the real work gets done between elections. Also, while the mood and direction of government would be drastically different under these two candidates, the water will run, the sun will shine, and the birds will sing on November 3 no matter who the victor is (or if there's none at all).

This isn't backpedaling; I'm still optimistic about Kerry. It's just that good ol' George Will has a way of putting things in perspective.