Victory, bit by bit

"I know it's hard sometimes, but just remember this. The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

The good guys are winning.

No matter what happens in tomorrow's election, no matter who controls the House or the Senate, remember this.

The good guys are winning.

Even if the self-righteous, hate-filled Michele "fool for Christ" Bachmann manages to get elected to the U.S. House, the good guys are winning. If she is defeated, though, the good guys get an extra point.

I know sometimes it seems bad, seems like we're taking a pounding. And sometimes it is bad, and we are taking a pounding. But we're still winning. You just have to take the long view.

Consider:

• When this Union was founded on the premise that all men are created equal, some men were counted as only 3/5 human.
  
• Less than a century ago, we pretended "separate but equal" was a legitimate way to run a government.
• Even after an activist court threw out "separate but equal," black men and women were hosed down, beaten and killed for such radical acts as sitting down at a lunch counter, going to school, or voting. That was only 50 years ago.
• It's been fewer than 90 years since the U.S. Constitution recognized the right of women to vote.
  
• Until 1976, a man could legally rape his wife in every state in this country.
• Employers were free, as recently as 40 years ago, to deny employment, promotions or equal pay to women, minorities or gays because they were women, minorities or gay.
  

But today federal law recognizes and protects the rights of minorities and women to equal treatment in employment and education. The Voting Rights Act was just renewed. Blatant racists are mocked as ignorant, and even cultural conservatives have to carefully couch their racism in neutral terms if they want to maintain even a shred of credibility. The pay gap between men and women is steadily (if slowly) closing. Rape and domestic violence are matters of public discussion. And a developing cultural consensus that gay people don't actually have an agenda, aren't contagious, and aren't trying to convert the rest of us has most people pretty much figuring they've got better things to worry about than if Adam prefers Steve to Eve.

Are things perfect? No. They aren't even as good as they should be. Injustices persist, and will for some time. But it's a long game, and no matter what happens tomorrow, I like our side's chances.