Talk about a culture shock… a bit different than Northern Virginia.
I voted. After going around and around with the Liberty County Clerk’s Office and the Texas Secretary of State’s Legal Division, I was properly registered to vote on 3 November, and flew home to vote on 4 November, and was back at work at 7 am on 5 November. I voted, it just cost me some money. I believe I acted in the service of this country, my patriotic duty, to be, on what I consider, the right side of history. Besides, if I didn’t vote, I wouldn’t have any grounds to complain, right?
As a bit of a personal reckoning and political definition, I consider myself a patriot first, then a libertarian-conservative, or a “sensible conservative” as George Will puts it. I believe the libertarian wing of the Republican Party has a stronger seat at the table today than it did before the election. And if I am a Republican, I am a McCain Republican, although I remain hesitant and critical of our foreign policy, not because of our presence abroad, but due to its current incoherence, of which neither party has an honest way forward; but I’ll leave that to one of my next posts.
I am happy with my vote, and happy with the outcome, although my candidate did not win. How can that be? I believe John McCain would have made a better President, but I believe Barack Obama’s win was better for the United States at this moment in history. As politician-turned-pundit Joe Scarborough put it, “Our party was slaughtered, but America took a step forward.”
I consider the election result as a victory on two fronts, and a loss on two fronts. Let me cover the losses first, to get any pessimism out of the way. Firstly, John McCain lost. He was a hero to me, and if I had a child on earth now watching this election play out, I would want him to look up to the character of McCain before that of Obama. Secondly, a very partisan brand of liberalism has won. I have described at lengths how government expansion breeds a loss of freedom, covered by our founders (i.e. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, etc.) and their influences (i.e. Edmund Burke, John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, Cicero, etc.), so I will not spend my time beating that horse now. I’ll go Old School next post.
As far as victories are concerned, Republicans are finally freeing themselves of the Bush legacy, which was marred by incompetence and doublespeak. As John McCain said to the British Conservative Party in 2006, “The party elected to reform government has become the party of government.” The Republican brand rightly suffered as a consequence. George Bush grew the federal government by 40% in the last eight years; during that same period, the size of the Department of Education doubled, while national test scores have remained level. These scores are relatively the same as they have been since the Department’s conception in 1980, proving that federal meddling in state and local issues does not improve a system, no matter how much money you throw at the problem. Politicians have been unwilling to hold the line on spending due to the influence of special interests, even though they trumpeted limited government in rhetoric, while sacrificing our economic freedoms. For the lovers of liberty, there is a victory in this defeat.
Secondly, this moment in history marks a victory in civil rights, and we should all be proud. I believe this is the fulfillment of the dream Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke about on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial 45 years ago. No longer in this country is someone limited by their race, creed, or gender, and this realization was intended by our founders, and by the Creator Himself. America, including the Republican Party, is better today than it was before this election.
So I remain unconvinced conservatism has been dealt some final blow. Hindsight is 20-20, and we can look back and wonder about what went wrong for the McCain campaign. In less than a year, national security has become an afterthought in American politics. More remarkably, energy independence followed suit in less than six months. These factors hurt McCain, but nothing held greater weight than our economic meltdown. This crisis was equivalent to the Titanic sinking, and John McCain couldn’t get his lifeboat free in time to save himself. And then there’s Sarah Palin… I will leave it up to others to brutalize Sarah Palin. Maybe we’ll see her again in national politics, but I don’t think so. She shares a social-conservative platform with Mike Huckabee, who is more capable of uniting people than she is. I like them both, sure, but I believe social conservatism will have to take a backseat for the Republican Party to be successfully remade.
How should the Party be remade? Well, it’s time to get back to basics. Obviously, standing on the sides and criticizing the Democrats as they try to grow government through tax-and-spend policies will be enjoyable for some, kind of like standing on the sides at the high school dance and laughing at those in the spotlight, making their best attempt to get lucky. The GOP needs to learn from what the Left will go through in the coming months, as protester-politicians are finally in charge of Congress and the Presidency. What is there left to protest, when you are in total control?
The GOP must be careful to stand on Constitutionally-based principles as they take issue with coming policy, so they can stand upon substance if the pendulum of power were to swing back their way. ALL Republican Congressmembers should co-sponsor H.R. 1359, the Enumerated Powers Act, and introduce this legislation firstly to make their intentions clear. The fact that this proposal seems necessary is almost asinine, and opposition to it should be exploited outright, but I digress.
For now, though Barack Obama deserves our congratulations with a caution, a beckoning for forbearance, as there are no checks in the system now. It will be up to Obama to defy the leftist lurch Pelosi and Reid are waiting for. How will Obama govern? We will soon find out what Obama means by change. The two most recent Democratic Presidents that had his Party in Congress were Carter and Clinton; Obama would be wise to learn from the mistakes these two made early in their Presidency. He starts with a blank slate, and he has the opportunity to become a great president if he can pull our economy out the ditch and improve our image abroad without capitulating our strength. He has already impressed the international community simply by being a “citizen of the world,” you know.
For the aftermath, Americans should no longer have to choose between Big Government at home, or Big Government abroad. The Republicans have been cut loose for a while, allowed to wander in the wilderness, and can come back to fill the void left in the center-right heart of America. As Americans, though, there is less that divides us than unites us. We all love the liberties afforded our people in their various forms, and we stand united. As a patriot, my heart is filled with pride for this nation, and I wish Barack Obama the best as he readies himself for the highest office in the land.