The election was only two weeks ago, but commentators at the national level have already moved on to new debates and the latest political scandal. But the election results were historic, for a variety of reasons, and I don’t think we’ve got a complete picture yet of what voters’ embrace of the Republican agenda for America will mean.

One thing seems certain from the election results here in Minnesota: The progressive era in this state’s politics is over, probably for good. Those progressives &045; or liberals &045; that are left will be lonely voices of dissent, voices for fairness that will be hard to hear over the complaints of malcontent taxpayers and the anti-immigrant crowd. What the cost will be to local government aid, schools and recent immigrants isn’t clear yet, but if the state backs away from the programs that created a state where quality of life everywhere was everyone’s responsibility, more disparities will emerge between suburban communities and greater Minnesota.

Another revelation is that, with the 2002 election, Minnesota is finally starting to look more like the rest of the country. Over the past 20 years, the rest of America has steadily been turning its collective backs on the policies and programs that arose during America’s response to the Depression. It just took longer to happen here in Minnesota.

It didn’t take much to uproot the progressive agenda, either, because it’s not a deeply rooted tradition in our country. America has always been a place where individuals and their property matter more than the health of communities. Now that most voters don’t remember the reasons why the government’s social &uot;safety net&uot; was created and what the lack of government regulation of business led to, once upon a time, there’s little to keep current laws and programs from being scrapped.

But as we bid adieu to progressive politics, we need to remember what progressives did for us. Without progressives there would be no &uot;safety net&uot; for elderly Americans, no Social Security system or Medicare. There wouldn’t be much of a safety net for poor families, either. No school lunch programs for poor children. No subsidized medical care or nutrition programs for pregnant women and babies. Even veterans’ programs, like medical care and education benefits, are &uot;progressive&uot; policies.

If progressives hadn’t influenced government action in the 20th century, we would still have racial apartheid in this country. The civil rights movement was a liberal idea, and it’s because of them that racism has been defanged, if not defeated entirely. Progressives can claim credit for the laws that keep government agencies and businesses from wreaking havoc on the land we live on or polluting the air we breathe.

In fact, I would argue that much of the quality of life that makes being an American a much sought-after identity around the world is the result, largely, of the efforts of progressive leaders at all levels of government. People don’t want to live here just because they want to get rich quick.

Which raises the question of what happens now? With more and more tax cuts on the horizon, less and less regulation of business, and the transformation of programs like Social Security into individual retirement plans, what kind of America will my children be growing up in?

It will be an America where the words &uot;economic&uot; and &uot;justice&uot; will apply to tax policy and the rights of stockholders and corporations, but not to the rights of workers. What will happen to the &uot;progressive&uot; guarantees to workers that their workplace won’t kill them? Will ordinary workers be able to retire, after a lifetime of producing profits for stockholders, without having to worry about whether they will have enough to eat and a place to live?

Neither do I see our current leaders making affordable and quality medical care for all Americans a priority. The profitability of insurance companies and HMOs seems to be a higher priority than whether sick people get the medical care they need. At all levels &045; worker’s rights, medical care for the poor, Social Security &045; progressive ideas get in the way of the Republicans’ current anti-tax, anti-regulation agenda.

The ball is in the Republicans’ court now. We’ll have to see what they do with it.

David Rask Behling is a rural Albert Lea resident. His column appears Tuesdays.