I'm really not ready for a time of healing after a hard fought election. I don't frankly want to heal with a bunch of people who are dumb enough to support George Bush, I don't want to heal with a bunch of people who can't see that a Republicans government in Florida, along with a conservative supreme court, conspired to hand the presidency to an intellectual lightweight who will do irreparable harm for the nation. The lesson of this election is not that we all have to "come together" but that we all have to fight harder for our believes and that we have to prefer getting nothing done to getting the wrong thing done.

The Supreme Court, apparently, values expediency over accuracy. While the facts clearly demanded a hand recount (and while the law clearly allowed for one) the Supremes decided we needed to accept a flawed result because we were running out of time. Laughable. Worst case scenario is that we don't have a President by January 20th. Would that have really been so bad? Would the world have collapsed if we had asked Clinton to mind the fort for an extra week or two?

The American people apparently prefer expediency as well. Most of Al Gore's supporters deserted him as the fight went on. They'll also desert legislative democrats if they try to stymie a Bush budget, just as they deserted Republicans who tried to stymie Clinton's budget. Americans just want things done, and in the end, they don't care how.

Well, good. George W. Bush is the perfect President for an apathetic country, just like he's the perfect employee for a manager who takes long lunches and calls in sick three times a week. If you don't watch him goof up, it isn't so bad.

And he will goof up, and whether we realize it or not, it will be bad.

Bush has inherited a ticklish economy, all signs point to rising unemployment next year, and a decline in the growth of real wages. Federal Reserve Board chairman Allan Greenspan usually cuts interest rates in cases like that, which allows for more borrowing and more consumer and corporate spending. But oil prices are high and will remain so, that creates inflationary pressure (by driving up costs for industry and government) and Greenspan will be unable to act.

OPEC lived through most of the 1990s selling oil at per barrel prices below what they needed in order to keep the member governments solvent. So, don't expect OPEC to get too kind, too fast. Sure, they don't want the U.S. to fall into a recession (and we won't unless Bush really messes up) but they might slow us down to the point where we feel like we're in a recession. There've been a lot of economic perks out there over the last few years. When I moved to New York last year I was stunned at what a beautiful city its become (it was kind of a pit when I visited in the early nineties). People credited Rudolph Giuliani with that. While I won't say he's not somewhat responsible (he's been a good mayor despite my disdain for his politics) I would give more credit to the trillions of dollars that flowed into the city as the stock market boomed. As that flow gets cut off to a trickle over a short period of time (next year, by all accounts) it's going to feel like we're losing money even if we're not, because growth won't be so robust.

No more bonuses, no more hopping around from job to job, no more instant riches stock options... this is what made people happy and apathetic enough to let George Bush steal an election. But mark my words, when all this comes crashing down and some giant foundation gets hold of those Florida ballots, counts them independently and cries foul over Bush's presidency, people will start caring.

Maybe Ralph Nader was right. Maybe we need Bush to hate and kick around for four years in order to get a vibrant counter culture moving again. That's the only good that can come out of this by any stretch of the imagination, but it won't happen if we all try to heal, compromise and capitulate with our intellectual enemies on the right.

Michael Maiello is a uniter, not a divider.