THE ELECTIONS, A WEEK LATER

THE GREAT THEOCRATIC tide isn't. The alleged emerging mass of ``value
voters'' did not emerge. They may be vocal and they may be scary, but
they're also winsome and wee. They got grumpy and they stayed home. They're
not zealots after all; they're just like Americans.

Who really won the election? Libertarians. They even elected a governor in
Minnesota. I know Jesse Ventura is supposed to be a Ross Perot candidate,
but look at his platform -- for abortion rights, for gay rights, for tax
cuts, against school vouchers. That's not the giant sucking sound of prissy
Ross; that's a secular libertarian talking.

Ventura mused openly about legalizing drugs and prostitution. He didn't
advocate those positions; he merely wondered whether they might not have
some merit. I like a world in which the thinkers-out-loud get elected.

Ventura got lots of young voters; he may be considered the first Gen X
candidate to win high office. I have seen the future, and it wants to be
left alone.

What else? People want to be free to gamble. Gambling won everywhere it was
proposed; it was a factor in the Democratic gubernatorial victories in
Alabama and South Carolina. The Christian Coalition is against gambling
because it's sinful.

Sin ain't working just now. The electorate felt no urge to punish that big
sinner in the White House, either. Libertarians aren't big on sin. They're
big on freedom and personal morality.

OTHER STUFF. FIRST: The electorate is way ahead of its government on this
war-on-drugs thing. They see the hypocrisy that the government keeps missing.

The people understand drugs because the people take drugs. Only politicians
pretend that they don't take drugs. Most people take only legal drugs; they
understand the nature of their actions, though.

And the people want marijuana to be legalized for medical purposes. Period.
The congressional Republicans, in a particularly shameful act, refused to
let the ballots be counted in Washington, D.C., because they're afraid
medical marijuana will win there, too.

The GOP really is a bunch of putzheads. The party says it's for small
government, then it uses the tyrannical power of government to interfere
with counting the ballots. Get with the program, folks; you've abandoned
your libertarian base, and it's beginning to hurt.

As for the Democrats -- it's time for the Clinton administration to rein in
its damn drug czar and decriminalize marijuana. It is what the people want.

ALSO, THE PEOPLE are still in favor of a woman's right to choose. They
always have been; the religious right keeps thinking that it's just a
matter of education. But even with the scare phrase ``partial birth,''
voters in two states remained staunchly pro-choice.

I understand that this is a complicated moral issue. I understand that
reasonable people can disagree on this matter. It should be a tough issue;
the decision to terminate a pregnancy should not be trivialized.

It's time to refocus the conversation. The issue is unwanted children. The
solution is complete access to birth control. If people took responsibility
for the consequences of their sexual behavior, then the abortion rate would
drop steeply -- which is a goal the pro-life people cherish.

Is there a way for the sundry groups that care about children to come
together on this issue? I understand there are theological problems, but
what this election means, I think, is that people are impatient with
theological roadblocks to the solution of social problems.

And the pro-life people need to do something about the assassins in their
midst. There's been too much silence about the killing of doctors; too much
``Hey, not my fault.'' Blame is not the point. The only people who have a
chance of reaching the maniacs with bombs and sniper rifles are the
responsible pro-life leaders. Sure it's hard. The whole thing is hard. Do
it anyway.

So gather up your jackets, move to the exits, I hope you have found a
jrc@sfgate.com.

Surprise winners and predictable results; programs to be got with.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski