Abraham Lincoln once noted that through most of his career, he felt that history had driven him more than he had driven history. So, today, we see both the good and the bad being driven by events they can no longer control. Now that the litigation has started, it will, like the mighty Mississippi, just keep rolling along. Even if one of the candidates should concede for any reason, he will only add a feeling of contempt and betrayal to the sense of impending theft that already roils the blood of his supporters. Nor will he gain accolades for statesmanship. That window closed about last Friday. Now it will be characterized as merely yielding to the inevitable.

 The deconstructionists have done their job. Having seen an election close-up for the first time, with all its human imperfections, will the American public ever again look on election returns as we always have until a week ago? Just as a raped virgin, though still innocent in her heart, has yet lost her innocence, so American elections will hereafter be looked upon with a worldly foulness, an indelible stain.

 And, in future elections, we can be sure that no self-respecting political campaign will lack a post-election legal strategy. Every nasty new political trick one party comes up with inevitably is adopted by the other side in future campaigns. We have something to look forward to. A precedent has been established.

 The corrosive cynicism of the last half-century, the deep sense of irony that sees all things at an angle instead of straight on, abetted by the swift and massive flow of supporting evidence in our information age, has remorselessly undermined respect for our great institutions -- religion, church, parents, the military, business, Congress, the courts, the presidency, heroes. We have seemingly taken these blows in stride. Now this denigrating impulse is hitting bedrock -- our fundamental organizing mechanism, the elective process itself. It is time for wise men to tremble.