Well, we lost. I was sure we were going to win, but we lost. I was sure four years ago that we were going to win, but four years ago I kind of knew I was lying to myself. This time I didn’t think I was.
At these times what normally discourages me the most is not so much that the wrong person was put in office, but that my fellow Americans felt that putting person into office was a good idea. That’s how I felt when Bill Clinton was reelected. That’s how I felt when President Obama was elected the first time. This time is different though. This time I truly fear for my country and worry about what kind of future my kids are going to have with this overwhelming debt, 8% unemployment as “the new normal,” a near majority of Americans taking more from government than they put in and a press that is not not just slanting stories for the Democrat candidate, but actively campaigning for him on-air.
I feel like giving up.
But something inside won’t let me. Something inside tells me to quit feeling sorry for myself. Something inside reminds me that if our grandparents didn’t give up when they saw their country attacked unprovoked and our Pacific Fleet ravaged while at the same time watching most of Europe quickly fall to Hitler; that if our parents didn’t give up with the full force of the Soviet Union marshaled against them, for much of that time in fear of eminent nuclear attack – then we can’t give up because 47% of our fellow citizens are more concerned about their government retirement packages or getting a welfare check then they are about whether or not our economy collapses, our enemies get nuclear weapons, babies can be legally killed from conception to hours after birth, dead ambassadors, mandated healthcare, a weakened U.S. military…
Over the next few weeks we’re going to be bombarded with liberals saying that the GOP is dead and “We’re all Socialists Now.” We’re going to see article after article from conservatives blaming everyone but themselves for this loss and telling us what we need to do to fix things. You know how I can know this with absolute, 100% certainty? Because that’s what happened in 2006 & 2008.
Which got me thinking….
-
2000 GOP win — G.W.Bush ran against the VP of an extremely popular president, and won.
-
2002 GOP win — Republicans gained 2 Senate seats and 8 House seats, in a mid-term election which is unusual.
-
2004 GOP win — G.W.Bush reelected.
-
2006 DNC win — Dems ran against Bush – not on their ideas or against his, but on him as a man counting on American’s war fatigue and general anger at Bush.
-
2008 DNC win — Dems ran the same campaign they had in 2006, they didn’t run against (our admittedly weak candidate) McCain or his ideas, they ran against Bush and “for” blackness.
-
2010 GOP win — Republicans take seats in the Senate and win control of the House.
-
2012 DNC win — Last night. Blame it on the rain, or the 47% or Romney, or whatever. We lost, by less than we did in 2008.
I’ve been reading this morning about how America has experienced an “electoral shift” and things will never be the same. But I gotta tell you, to me it looks like we’re 4 for 7 since 2000. And, I believe, the whole time we’ve been increasing our governorships and padding a lot of state legislatures. I don’t see that as a “shift” at all. I see that a winning record.
Not only that, you’ll notice from the list above, that at least for last 12 years Democrats haven’t run on liberal principles at all. In 2006 & 2008 they ran against Bush and barely talked about their agenda. This year President Obama failed to mention the Stimulus, Cash for Clunkers, Obamacare, new EPA regulations, or most of his other programs much if at all in his speeches. He ran on killing Bin Laden (using systems President Bush put in place and using tactics President Obama opposed before he was elected in 2010), people’s fear of Romney and animosity toward the rich or, more broadly, toward “The Other.” His avoidance of discussion of the last four years was so obvious and so obviously intentional that many journalists noted that he campaigned more like a challenger than an incumbent.
And we held the house. Have we already forgotten that prior to 1994 Republicans had only held the House for four years since 1932? Not only that, but have we forgotten that we had Democrat presidents for most of the ’60s, half of the ’80s and almost all of the ’90s?
The Union will survive. God is still on His throne. We will lick our wounds and come back to fight another day. America isn’t just a plot of earth or even a way of life. America is more than the sum-total of it’s citizens. It’s more than an election or a list of government programs or and economy or a ledger with tax revenues in one column and debt in another — America an idea. It’s an idea upon which, against odds that even in retrospect still appear overwhelming, our forefathers refused to give up.
We’ll mourn for a while and count our losses. We’ll find ways to cope with our current reality. Then we’ll rebuild our fleet and fight America’s enemies all the way back to Japan.