Most people. according to theologian and adult educator Margrit Banta, prefer to be told what to do. In my heart, I know this can't be true. But let's look at the map.

The icon of the 2004 presidential victory is a map. A big red map. For some reason, which escapes me now, I looked at the numbers that made the map (the best one was made by the BBC). What I discovered was that the map was made by a about half of the country. The rest couldn't make up their minds.

The red was actually decided by a coalition of states led, and probably intimidated by, Texas. If I ever wondered what the politics of the center of the country are (and I never did) I now know. Ultra conservative, war-mongering, paranoid, bible-blinded bigotry are words that fit. Take a good look at your freedom, this is probably the last you'll see of it for some time. Unfortunately, the house and senate are all red, too. So our red president can do pretty much what ever he wants. When the red house and senate won't let him, he can just cry "Terrorism." It's enough to make a father proud.

But let's get back to that coin toss. Wisconsin (in gold) is a state that would have benefited from a coin toss. Bush won by .4% (note dot in front of the 4). Doesn't look like decisiveness to me. Does anyone here know the politics of Wisconsin? Me either.

Meanwhile, a few rebel states in New England made up their minds for Kerry. They weren't as good as Texas in the strong-arm department. None of their neighbors were intimidated enough to join them.

What about Washington DC, the president's home town? An overwhelming 90% voted for Kerry. (There's a gold dot on the map but it is so small you can't see it.)

I'm feeling really good about the term limits thing. Wait! Is there a proviso to override the limit in case of terrorism?

Finally, my point, and how I got this map. Every state that decided by a margin of 17% (my definition of decisiveness—I prefer 20% but two states had 17% and that's close enough for government work) got a real color (red for Bush, blue for Kerry). The rest got purple. All the purple states could have tossed a coin. Their "decision" was made by a less than 10% difference.

Let's do the next election with a coin toss. This eliminates that whole beat-em-to-death with money thing and would let anyone run. We could have a whole string of "toss-offs" in bars across the country. Then we'd really have something to celebrate.