What Now?

How should the new Democratic majority treat the dethroned Republicans, given the arrogance of those Republicans?

* firmly, as one treats a drowsy child
* bravely, as one treats a common bully
* assertively, as one treats a snarling dog
* warily, as one treats a flaming brown bag of excrement placed on one's front porch on Halloween
* cautiously but in a spirit of curiosity, as one treats a rabid bat
* chastely but compassonately, as one treats a diseased prostitute
* vigorously but accurately, as one treats a middle-aged leather boy if one is a B&D mistress with a strong whip hand
* proudly as one approaches a prince, guardedly as one approaches a rogue, hesitantly as one approaches a fool, unwillingly but judiciously as one approaches a rogue who is also a fool and who fancies himself a prince but with whom one must share the labors of the day because that's the way democracy works.

And if all else fails, one heeds the advice of Flannery O'Connor:



"To the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures."