In a discussion I was having prior to the election, Paul Newman's The Verdict came up and it brought to mind the closing argument of Newman's character Frank Galvin, and then I saw it on Fox Movie Channel this evening:

You know, so much of the time we're just lost. We say, "Please, God, tell us what is right; tell us what is true." And there is no justice: the rich win, the poor are powerless. We become tired of hearing people lie. And after a time, we become dead... a little dead. We think of ourselves as victims... and we become victims. We become... we become weak. We doubt ourselves, we doubt our beliefs. We doubt our institutions. And we doubt the law. But today you are the law. You ARE the law. Not some book... not the lawyers... not the, a marble statue... or the trappings of the court. See those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are... they are, in fact, a prayer: a fervent and a frightened prayer. In my religion, they say, "Act as if ye had faith... and faith will be given to you." IF... if we are to have faith in justice, we need only to believe in ourselves. And ACT with justice. See, I believe there is justice in our hearts.

It seemed an apt metaphor for what Democrats across the country had felt about politics in our country for the past years - the distrust, the powerlessness, the victimhood, the doubt of our institutions and ourselves.

But yesterday a nation of citizens rose up and had faith and delivered political justice. It was a good day.