how?

Here`s my trilevel gut response to the reelection of Barack H. Obama:

1.) I am floored at how badly I, personally, misjudged my fellow Americans. I truly didn't grasp that my ideology is in the minority until tonight.

2.) It's possible we've witnessed the American Idol-ization of the office of president. Obama is a celebrity. He's cooler.  Who needs low unemployment when you've got Jay-Z and Springsteen?

3.) And this is most dangerous of all. It's possible that we`ve changed as a people. More than half of the states in this Union currently believe that healthcare and housing are a Right. In other words, from medicine to retirement a majority of Americans now believe that government, not the individual, has a moral imperative to provide life`s basic needs, wants, and desires. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are no longer sufficient. Collectivism is caring, individualism is greed.

If that's true, we've lost more than an election.