No alarms and no surprises.

As some readers of this blog know well, before I entered the Society I was deeply involved in electoral politics. Since my position as a vowed religious precludes partisan political involvement, I now follow elections as an interested spectator instead of a participant. I still have strong political opinions, and I still share them among friends who understand that in this realm I speak only for myself and not for the Church or the Society. The public identity that comes with my vows and the initials following my name require me to be somewhat circumspect in any public comments I may make on political matters. As readers of this blog can easily determine from things written by and about me in the past, I am a Democrat. Democrats come in many shapes and sizes, and I'm one of the Bob Casey variety. I don't hide this fact, but it's also not a piece of information that I volunteer in apostolic situations. Whenever I act, speak or write as a representative of the Church and the Society, I have a responsibility to keep purely personal opinions in the background.

The above paragraph is a lengthy preamble to a semi-obligatory statement on yesterday's elections. Though readers familiar with my political past are no doubt curious what I thought of last night's election results, I've made a prudential judgment to avoid political blogging as much as possible. Friends who want to trade opinions on the outcome of particular races are welcome to e-mail me, but beyond that readers who want to know what I think about this general subject will have to content themselves with whatever clues they might find in this post. AMDG.