Silver Linings Playbook, Election Edition

(Or, how to cheer up yourself and your friends after the Democrats’ defeat.)

I thought I’d share my quick thoughts on what we Progressives can tell our friends — and/or ourselves — to feel just a little bit less severely depressed after the midterm election. Perhaps not as useful as a stiff drink, but hopefully helpful nonetheless.

STEP ONE: Be honest

You can’t say Democrats won. They didn’t. They lost. So start with something honest — and cathartic — like, “Yeah, the election really sucked.”

STEP TWO: Put the election in context

The election was always going to suck. In the sixth year of a two-term presidency, the party in the White House almost always loses seats in Congress — in fact, an average of 29 House seats and 5 Senate seats. That, combined with the fact that the map of races this year was simply more favorable to Republicans, means it’s not really news that Republicans did so well on Election Night. If anything, news was that the election was ever expected to be close.

STEP THREE: Focus on something positive

Here you have two main options, as I see it.

You can talk about demographics — that women, young people and black voters all showed up at the polls at lower rates this election than in 2012. What’s so positive about that? Well, the low turnout stinks but when women, young people and African Americnas vote, they vote overwhelmingly for Democrats — as they did in this election. Turnout is something Democrats can work on in the short-run — for instance, actually running on instead of away from Democrat’s progressive record on the economy and health care would help. And in the long run, these voters will make up an ever-increasing share of the electorate. Based on inevitable demographic shifts in the U.S. population, 30 years from now, we can expect most voters to be Democrats. And if Democrats can figure out how to register and turn out their base more, especially in non-presidential elections, that eventuality may come even sooner.

The other bright spot comes from ballot measures. In four red states — Arkansas, South Dakota, Alaska and Nebraska — strong majorities of voters supported measures to raise the minimum wage. In Arkansas, for instance, while 56 percent of voters backed Republican Tom Cotton for the Senate, 65 percent of voters endorsed raising the state’s minimum wage. Meanwhile, voters in Colorado and North Dakota struck down extremist so-called “fetal personhood” amendments that would have severely restricted the reproductive freedom of women in those states. Over 6 in 10 voters in Colorado opposed the “personhood” measure, even as a majority elected Cory Gardner, the Republican Senate candidate who had supported strict abortion restrictions. Here’s my analysis on the wacky contrast between votes on ballot measure and votes for GOP candidates.

That, my fellow progressives, is as good as it gets — maybe only small comfort this election cycle, but whether it’s God or guns or the eventual dramatic demographic shifts in the American electorate, we all cling to what we can.

Sally Kohn is a CNN contributor and political essayist. She did her best not to cry or curse on-air on election night. Find her on Twitter at @sallykohn.