Take a deep breath …

Any student of American political history will be the first to say that, political spin and breathless media reporting aside, the midterm elections were pretty much to be expected. It is routine rather than unusual for voters to seek more of a balance following a presidential election.

What is unusual is both the level of animosity that we’ve seen in this campaign season and also the amount of money spent. We can’t help but think that comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert had it right (and no doubt that’s why their recent event, the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, attracted so many people) when they asked us all to “take it down a notch.”

So for all the voters who identify with the Tea Party movement, who think we’re on the road to socialism and the end of America, we’d like to say: We disagree with you, but we don’t think you’re stupid.

And for those voters who think our endorsements in the recent election were a) knee-jerk liberalism, b) selling out to the fascists, c) another example of corporate whoring or d) just plain crazy, we have a message.

We think you’re wrong, but we know you’re not Hitler. Hitler was, well, Hitler.

Let’s take a deep breath and remember that there are some things we can all agree on. Really, there are.

For example, we can all agree that the U.S. Constitution is a document that guarantees our own liberty at the same time that it allows the people we disagree with to get away with entirely too much. We can all agree that, even if it’s not perfect, our system of democracy, with its regularly scheduled elections, has once again managed to chart a course that didn’t involve anyone reaching for their guns.

And we can probably all agree that we need a break from political advertising. Oh, do we need a break! So let’s all grab a cup of whatever—the beverage need not reflect our political beliefs—sit back and be grateful that another campaign season is over.