As Americans go to the polls today, much is being made of the razor-thin margins by which control of the House and Senate may be decided. There is speculation that on Wednesday morning the country might not be able to learn which party controls the legislature. Much of the tension will be generated by myriad local issues, from California to New York, from Illinois to Florida. The close margins don’t bother us. We are reminded as we prepare to set out for the polls that this may be the last election for some time in which the people have been allowed free speech on the eve of the vote, able to run ads and pay for various statements through their various non-for-profit companies, associations, and labor unions. Whether those in the future will be so lively may yet depend on the Supreme Court. There is also the fact that this election takes place only days after Congress has authorized, by a large bipartisan margin, a president to go to war against a foreign foe. For years we have felt that the Republicans have held the higher ground in the debate over foreign affairs, but it is no small thing that a majority of Democrats in the Senate and many in the House were with the president on the war vote. It is a humbling fact to think that this election may be looked back upon by historians as coming at the start of a new world war.