THE ELECTION IS OVER  . . . OR IS IT?

President Obama won reelection by attacking Gov. Romney and ignoring his own record. Somehow, voters went along with that strategy.

Maybe voters acquiesced because they, albeit in smaller numbers, were from the same societal segments as four year previous. Flirting with over-generalization, those voters were liberal, unmarried, young, labor unionists, members of minority groups. Some million or so fewer voters that supported the Republican were married, older and Caucasian. In short, the United States electorate is divided, now more clearly than in the past. Another factor in that division is cultural. The bigger slice tends toward hedonism and the smaller more traditional. Such description might be stark, probably more so than in reality, but nonetheless in the ballpark.

Americans, as is unusual in many parts of the world, accept the election outcome. Now comes the hard part: dealing with the country’s problems, both monetarily and materially.

Deficits and debt remain astronomical and continue to grow. Sandy, the destructive super-storm, has demonstrated how vulnerable is civilization without its bare necessities of food, power, housing, transportation.

Money and life’s basics are intrinsically intertwined. That is just as true for nations as it is for individuals.

We have already seen what the housing bubble did to the national economy when it burst. Without being exhaustive, failure in the energy sector could maim transportation, commerce and manufacturing; failure in banking could cause widespread bartering and eventually hunger. Granted, such extremes are not likely to happen. Yet, policies that weaken elemental business structures can only lead to extremes, if only gradually. Something like the fate of the proverbial frog in a pan of water slowly being brought to boil.  

The just completed 2012 elections can bring more of the same. Or – is this too optimistic? – trigger a sense of urgency in finding a way out of current messes.

January 1 will begin automatic higher taxes and draconian federal spending cuts, especially in the military, that could bring nearly immediate financial calamity. Politicians on both sides are already talking up preventative action on these possibilities. We can only hope.

As for the cultural divide that reared to some visibility as a result on the polling, there is little hope. Those espousing the modern proclivity toward self-satisfaction certainly wish no change. Examples are passage in Maine and Maryland of same-sex marriage referenda. (In California, believe it or not, voters approved health standards for pornographic movie making, thus condoms for actors.) Those trying to keep more traditional norms nearly despair.

Some of the issues are in the courts, such as preservation of religious freedom as is seen under attack from HHS mandates on insurance provision by religion-backed health, charity and educational institutions. But the courts seem to be leaning toward politics more than toward juridical rectitude. Some matters, such as co-habitation, are now generally acceptable. Only older people remember movie star Ingrid Bergman having to leave the country because of an extramarital affair with an Italian director, Roberto Rossellini, or the homosexuality of Rock Hudson revealed after his death. Affairs and “coming out” are topics, not scandals, nowadays.

In sum, this election probably will change little in American life unless politicians stumble into a disaster, accidental or (could it be?) predict