Well, things didn't go the way I would have liked on Tuesday night. Didn't go the way most of you fine readers of this blog would have liked either. It's not as bad as it could have been - can you say "filibuster?" Thought you could. Despite the myths that will be propogated, voter turnout was about the same as 2004...and with the tsunami of misplaced anger at the Republicans it wasn't a "blowout." Certainly was not a Reaganesque mandate (489 -41 Electoral College, 51%-41% popular vote in 1980 and 525-13 Electoral College and 59%-41% popular in 1984). But it was the Democrats night. After sobering up on Wednesday morning and putting away the 9MM and the Jack Daniels, I did what most of you probably did, go back to work. I have not reached the point of Atlas shrugging yet, but I suspect it's not far off for me and for many of you. On the half-empty side of the glass view, the election proves out a scary point made often by conservatives, that when we reach the point where the majority of the electorate has not stake in the outcome of the election beyond what they will receive from the government, we will pass quickly to tyranny. We're not there yet, but, we took a giant step in that direction on Tuesday.
First, in fairness, Obama's people deserve some credit. They sold 53% of the American people a brand, an image, a cloud of smoke. But they won. Our side ran a pretty awful campaign, second only to the dullness of the Dole campaign a few years back. We refused to attack the enemy on the issues that would have completely discredited him in the eyes of the American people - the 20 year association with the loonbat Reverend Wright. Even more significant though is that we failed to defend our turf. Instead of a loud defense of free markets and the benefits of capitalism where institutions that overreach are bound to fail, we railed against Wall Street greed and demanded that the Chairman of the SEC stand down. The one ray of brilliant sunshine brought into the campaign, Sarah Palin, was badly mishandled. Who in their right mind would allow unbridled access to Katie Couric for two days - you know it's a matter of time before she gets the money shot! Palin could have survived the condescension of Charlie Gibson, probably even gotten some sympathy for it...but the blank stares into Couric's camera were devastating though undeserved. Palin is a sharp, committed conservative who, I suspect will be back in some capacity in the future. Her national elected office aspirations are probably over though - few return from that kind of treatment...how about Secretary of Energy in the future? Wrap all that up with the financial meltdown and John McCain must have felt like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis. This last piece didn't have to be so either...I have defended President Bush for eight years on his foreign policy while chiding him on not using the veto pen for stopping the drunken spending. His behavior from mid-September on was the equivalent of crying "fire!" in a crowded theater. So be it - all is past now.
In between swirling swigs of Jack Black on Tuesday night, I tried saying "President Obama." I thought of what it would be like to be in the military with a new Commander in Chief that couldn't pass the security clearance tests to be a buck private...not good. How should he be treated? I think Bill Whittle, in a post titled "Historic," got it right over at Ejectejecteject, but I also share the view of Blue Collar Muse. Then wise words of the Rumbler Dad came to me. When I was first commissioned into the Navy, I was told "remember, they will salute the bars because they have to...they will salute the man because they want to." I love this country too much to disrespect the office of the President. Unlike the left loons and leaders that besmirched Reagan, Bush I and W mercilessly for the past two decades...overseas, here, to the moon, I can't do that. I also, to quote Kipling, "don't give way to hating." It does no good. But I will fight till I breath no more, anyone who attempts to destroy the founding principles of this nation. A person who thinks that the Constitution is some kind of putty to be molded to the current temporal fad. Just like the oath Obama will take in the too near future, I swore an oath almost thirty years ago to "protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic, so help me God." I may have resigned my Commission, but I have not vacated my oath.
Where to now? First, let's not get it wrong. As a former Navigator, I can tell you the first task is to determine where you are...then worry about where you are going. Some thoughts about where we are:
First, in fairness, Obama's people deserve some credit. They sold 53% of the American people a brand, an image, a cloud of smoke. But they won. Our side ran a pretty awful campaign, second only to the dullness of the Dole campaign a few years back. We refused to attack the enemy on the issues that would have completely discredited him in the eyes of the American people - the 20 year association with the loonbat Reverend Wright. Even more significant though is that we failed to defend our turf. Instead of a loud defense of free markets and the benefits of capitalism where institutions that overreach are bound to fail, we railed against Wall Street greed and demanded that the Chairman of the SEC stand down. The one ray of brilliant sunshine brought into the campaign, Sarah Palin, was badly mishandled. Who in their right mind would allow unbridled access to Katie Couric for two days - you know it's a matter of time before she gets the money shot! Palin could have survived the condescension of Charlie Gibson, probably even gotten some sympathy for it...but the blank stares into Couric's camera were devastating though undeserved. Palin is a sharp, committed conservative who, I suspect will be back in some capacity in the future. Her national elected office aspirations are probably over though - few return from that kind of treatment...how about Secretary of Energy in the future? Wrap all that up with the financial meltdown and John McCain must have felt like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis. This last piece didn't have to be so either...I have defended President Bush for eight years on his foreign policy while chiding him on not using the veto pen for stopping the drunken spending. His behavior from mid-September on was the equivalent of crying "fire!" in a crowded theater. So be it - all is past now.
In between swirling swigs of Jack Black on Tuesday night, I tried saying "President Obama." I thought of what it would be like to be in the military with a new Commander in Chief that couldn't pass the security clearance tests to be a buck private...not good. How should he be treated? I think Bill Whittle, in a post titled "Historic," got it right over at Ejectejecteject, but I also share the view of Blue Collar Muse. Then wise words of the Rumbler Dad came to me. When I was first commissioned into the Navy, I was told "remember, they will salute the bars because they have to...they will salute the man because they want to." I love this country too much to disrespect the office of the President. Unlike the left loons and leaders that besmirched Reagan, Bush I and W mercilessly for the past two decades...overseas, here, to the moon, I can't do that. I also, to quote Kipling, "don't give way to hating." It does no good. But I will fight till I breath no more, anyone who attempts to destroy the founding principles of this nation. A person who thinks that the Constitution is some kind of putty to be molded to the current temporal fad. Just like the oath Obama will take in the too near future, I swore an oath almost thirty years ago to "protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic, so help me God." I may have resigned my Commission, but I have not vacated my oath.
Where to now? First, let's not get it wrong. As a former Navigator, I can tell you the first task is to determine where you are...then worry about where you are going. Some thoughts about where we are:
- We did not lose because we failed to "move to the middle." Conservative values triumphed in California! with the passing of the Gay Marriage Ban. I submit we lost because our core conservative principles were muddled. The clarifying surge of Sarah Palin's addition may have saved McCain from a fate worse than Custer.
- We failed dismally to educate the voter. We failed on tax policy - for Chrissakes, it took the common sense wisdom of Joe the Plumber to point out that Obama is a Socialist! If you poll the American population with the question "do you want this country to be more of a European socialist state?" The result would be 70-30 AGAINST. We failed on foreign policy - we failed to remind the folks that the real danger in the world is not the free market, it is the free terrorist.
- We failed to put forward a unifying vision of what America can look like in four or eight years of conservative leadership and how the principles of freedom can repair the damage to the economy.
- We failed to defend capitalism. We got scared...capitalism allows for folly to be punished by the market. Bush panicked, the Dems pounced and voila we have nationalized real estate, the major financial institutions and may end up nationalizing the automobile industry before long.
- We failed to defend the family. We failed to show that freedom is the most fundamental and unstoppable ingredient to success. The state is not the father that some want it to be...only because they want to be the Daddy! Choice for education, choice for healthcare, choice for unionization with unfettered political meddling will get us where we want to go, not a hope ticket from Washington.
- We failed to defend the unborn. We have now elected the MOST pro-abortion politician in the history of this land. A man who calmly supports infanticide if necessary. If we cannot defend the least among us, where will our moral core end up? Heed well the words of DeTocqueville*: "America is great because she is good. If she ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." (* There is some speculation that this really isn't in DeTocqueville - I'll be honest, I never saw it, but I may have dozed off in that part...nevertheless, the spirit and meaning of the words ring true.)
Di*&weed,
You s*%ck!
Your racist fear mongering will not go unchallenged! Soon we will shut down your hate spewing web sites. We will take your guns. In prison, you will get an education on the error of your ways. We will take your children and raise them as our own and instill in them the values of social justice. We will have a new American Republic of justice and order for all!
You time is almost up! Prepare for the dung heap of history!
Atlas Shrugged got a similar e-mail. I had joked with a friend of mine about being sent to the re-education camps...hey, I was joking! This is still America isn't it? Anyhow, this individual needs some anger management classes. Why does the left always say it is the right that hates? Then there was this Anonymous comment left over at my Rumbler Report: (I have edited it and removed it from the blog.)
F*%ckhead,
We are watching your racist spewing. Any attempts at criticizing President Obama will be treated as sedition and we will report you to the FBI. We will shut down your f*%cking hate filled a#$hole commentary and get your a#@ thrown in prison where you will be r*&ped by all the people you don't want to allow to get maried.
Nice. I think he meant "married?"
Well, we are ready to move forward and to defend our First Amendment rights...and if need be, our Second Amendment rights too. Obama talked about a "righteous wind" before he blows hard to change the world, there is a right-wing wind blowing. We shall overcome!
Rumble on!