This election also showed the success of the American experiment in having "we the people" encompass a variety of religious groups. John Kerry's Catholicism was a campaign issue only in that it was nominal and seemed to represent packaging rather than personal belief. Evangelicals generally expressed concern not that he was too Catholic, but that he wasn't Catholic enough.

 Democrats now are pondering their next steps. They're already saying about John Kerry and John Edwards, "Off with their heads" (or at least their hair). But the Democratic problem is not personnel or tactics, it's mission drift. Democrats have become the autocratic party, arguing that moral issues should be decided by judges, officials or panels of bioethicists. Now it's up to George W. Bush to push hard for decentralizing measures -- school vouchers, poverty-fighting tax credits -- that will give more authority to "we the people."

 To help in this process, Christian conservatives need to push hard on educational, judicial and poverty-fighting issues. In 2001, for example, the first eight months of the faith-based initiative were largely wasted because the White House tried to placate the left rather than move forward vigorously. School vouchers also lost out as Ted Kennedy had his way. Those mistakes should not be repeated.