So at this point I’ve seen I don’t know how many people complaining about liberal this, new Muslim president that, he’s an illegal alien, Barack HUSSEIN Obama is going to ruin the country, etc, etc, etc. And I can’t help but think; how do you call yourself a patriot? Do you really care about our country? There comes a point after an election where you have to take a step back and say well, we lost; I don’t agree with the principles that the candidate who won has set forth but for the sake of our country I hope I am wrong and he is right. It is realistic to be worried but to pander to the lowest common denominator falls right into what people who think opposite to you love to see while they gloat. Its amazing the people that come out of the wood work when they are up and you are down; to add kindling to their fire, lighted by your ignorance, is not only self defeating but makes anyone else who is from a “red state” or sees things a certain way appear as “backwards” as the garbage that you put forth. As President Bush said today no matter how Americans cast their ballots, they should be proud of the history that was made yesterday and the progress the vast majority of our country has made. If anyone chases their dreams they can accomplish anything in this great country, no more excuses. It is beautiful that people can freely disagree with a peaceful transfer of power at the end of a democratic election where hopefully (at least on my end there’s not) any ill will towards the other side. As someone once said, “The American eagle has a left wing and a right wing, so let that eagle soar.”
Not horribly long ago there was a situation similar to this one. Besides being a sleazy horn dog, Bill Clinton did a good job of soon realizing (well three years into his presidency) that he had to move to the center to run the country; being too far to the left would not work. Hopefully a new President-Elect Obama will figure that out sooner; although his past associations, possible choice of Chief of Staff (Rham Emanuel could not be more partisan), state voting record, and senate voting record would point against that (97% record of voting w/ his party in the Senate); his campaign, one of the best managed probably in the history of our country all respects to Karl Rove seemed to have moved more to the center in at least foreign affairs the last few days and weeks. Is that a sign of more moderate views to come? Obama will hopefully go in and like Clinton say well I campaigned to lower taxes and raise them for the rich but we are in a recession and we can’t do that right now; likewise with his other campaign promises that in this current environment are doomed to fail. He is an intelligent man and I am sure he is aware of a backlash now just like then should he scorn the middle road to become Pelosi and Reed’s right hand.
Now let me explain. I am a conservative in a way that is not new although lately the word has been twisted to mean republican just as liberal is now a democrat; which is not a true definition of either really. Reagan, in attempting to define conservativism, said: “If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals — if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.” This was even earlier articulated by Edmund Burke, who in his ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’ wrote,…”It is to the property of the citizen, and not to the demands of the creditor of the state, that the first and original faith of civil society is pledged. The claim of the citizen is prior in time, paramount in title, superior in equity. The fortunes of individuals, whether possessed by acquisition or by descent or in virtue of a participation in the goods of some community, were no part of the creditor’s security, expressed or implied…The public, whether represented by a monarch or by a senate, can pledge nothing but the public estate; and it can have no public estate except in what it derives from a just and proportioned imposition upon the citizens at large.”
That is to say it’s not the right of the government to take on pet projects and pass the burden of the cost of the deficit created to the tax payer; likewise with many other forms of unnecessary government intervention. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger probably articulated it best when he mentioned he was a republican because having come from a socialist nation, he loved the idea of small government. Government obviously has its role in our lives, there must be some regulation and so on, but a line of course has to be drawn. Just like Barry Goldwater advocated many years ago this line should be drawn and applied to social values as well.
This election was lost because republicans turned away from what defines them. It isn’t because Obama turned around and reneged on his promise to stick with public financing and vastly outspent the republicans. It wasn’t because of a reverse Bradley effect or white liberal guilt. It wasn’t because of media bias. It wasn’t because of the failings of McCain or Palin. While these may have helped Mr. Obama, the Republican Party alienated both its base and independents by essentially becoming an intolerant version of the Democratic Party. For the good that Bush did, he has greatly increased the size, power, and spending of the federal government, and the size of the national debt, both of which are against general conservatism. Our party needs to sit back, recompose itself to something more resembling the party of Reagan, and even takes steps as the party of Lincoln to embrace equality for all and as part of a new platform. In regards to racism and sexism it has done a great job of this, but it will soon need to realize that in today’s society in a true ideology of small government and separation of church and state there is no reason for why it espouses outdated beliefs that, even if shared by democrats, we can be the ones that take this next great step in American society when both parties have up until now dropped the ball.
The world is a dangerous place. Russia already is challenging President-Elect Obama, with other countries that don’t like us very much likely soon to follow (Mr. Biden was almost right; although it wasn’t six months it was six hours). Hopefully Mr. Obama is able to establish a global order quickly and is able to, despite his wishes, move to the center and push a good economic plan. Hopefully he realizes that a strong military and a strong America is in the best interests of the planet. Hopefully he figures out a way to make it so that our educational system ranks among the best in the world. Maybe he will even create this utopia he painted a beautiful picture of with his words although he may have set expectations too high even for himself. He has written poetry of change that now has to become something substantial. I want nothing more than for our country to prosper, our President-Elect to succeed. If not? That there is a revamped Republican party to take charge and guide the country, lest this be the death rattle for the GOP. Is this something that we can accomplish? To borrow the slogan of a man who ran quite an impressive campaign and as the first minority leader of the free world has already inspired millions, “Yes we can.”