Election Postmortem 2008

The election was nearly two weeks ago, and yet I still have been unable to find the time to draft my post-mortem. Perhaps that is because George W. Bush and John McCain conspired together so effectively to make banks lend money to people who lied on their mortgage applications, and the Republicans have done such a good job of getting people to not pay their bills, that the economy is really bad, and I am working a ton of hours in my day job as a financial planner and investment manager. Surely, the state of the economy is all Bush's and McCain's fault, and I am trying to pick up the pieces, hence my delay in getting this done.The above paragraph does directly tie into what I have to say about the results of the election, because John McCain' fate was sealed the day Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. My heart goes out to my friends and like-minded conservative brethren that are sure "if only McCain had not been the candidate", that we would have won. Or if only "he had not selected Palin", we would have won. It is understandable (emotionally) that the losers of this election would want to find a scapegoat. It is not understandable logically or rationally. All five Republican nominees were going to lose this election, for incumbent parties do not win elections in this country when economic times are rough. I suppose we could debate which candidates would have done better, or worse, than McCain, but I find that topic to be a little boring, and quite a bit unhealthy. McCain was a deeply flawed candidate, and there are negative things one could day about Gov. Palin if so desired. But it is simply extraordinary to place the focus on those things in these times. America has freely elected a man whose life has been inundated in vertically mobile radicalism, and we are talking about the commercials John McCain should have run. It is disheartening.We lost this election, because more people than otherwise determined that their economic woes are the fault of the Republican party. We lost this election because a very good campaign was run by a candidate who had the complete and total endorsement of all major media. Conservatives can do a lot of things better, but if Rush Limbaugh believes that we would have won this election if the House had been more committed to "small government" the last eight years, he is insane. We lost this election because the American electorate is becoming less and less virtuous, and one candidate promised the electorate more nannyism than the other did.I do not know what will happen in the next four years. I know the people who believe that the results of this election represent anything significant racially in this country ought to come down to East Oakland tonight, or South Chicago, and walk around a bit. Let's find out up close and personal how racially united inner city blacks are now with their middle class white brothers and sisters. Please. It is sickening to hear this drivel. I know the idea that this man will "unite our country" and "heal our land" is only a bit more perverse than it is humorous. I am perplexed to hear professing people of faith state that they believe he can or will do so. The day the primary occupant of the White House pulls that off is the day I will switch religions to the statism these posers now practice. The President can not do something like that. And certainly this President can't.He got elected by lying through his teeth about what he will do, and what he intends to do. He is going to give health insurance to everyone in the country. He is going to cut taxes for 95% of the people. He is going to end people having their houses foreclosed. He is going to generate healthy relationships with dictators in Iran and Venezuela. He is going to bring energy prices down. He is going to give everyone a job. He is going to punish rich people for their sins. He is going to keep employers hiring people even as he sticks it to them with regulations and taxation. He is going to fix the environment. He is going to balance the budget. He is going to defend a woman's right to kill her baby, and he is also going to end abortion. He is going to unite the races, and he is going to defend race-baiting Afro-centric apostates and terrorists. This guy is something else. He is a Messiah. He is a King.And therein lies the rub. American bought this, hook, line, and sinker. I am not on a kick right now about the disaster that is the American public school system, but I also have a responsibility to tell the truth when I write. And we have programmed a generation of people (to some degree, from K-12, and in every sense possible, in college), to be quasi-Euro socialists. Obama kicked the class warfare rhetoric to a level never before seen in American politics, and people liked it. I am sorry if some of my conservative friends believe that America is mostly a "small government" country, but that is not true right now. We want to lie about our incomes, buy houses we can not afford, default on our obligations, and think that we can keep the house anyways. We want to blame the government when gas prices go high, mortgages are expensive, and our neighbor makes more money than us. The Ten Commandments may or may not belong on display in public buildings, but as long as they are so notably absent from the hearts and minds of men, I see little hope. I can not count how many Christians I have read or heard that quote the nonsense Barrack Obama spews as if he represents an improvement to the present paradigm, and do so on the basis that "he can create a better life for us."The American people have, at their roots, a philosophy that is freedom-loving, responsibility-producing, and virtue-requiring. I believe we can and will return to being a "city on a hill", as Reagan talked about. Radical isolationism as promoted by fruitcakes in the Libertarian party and moral egalitarians in the far left represent a minority, not a majority, of Americana. I also believe that America is mostly a center-right country when it comes to the social issues that I have always heard are so polarizing. If 25 out of 25 states have defined marriage as between a man and a woman, I do not think we have been polarized yet. But I am not sure if I can say that we are still on board when it comes to matters of freedom, fiscal conservatism, the pursuit of prosperity, and the relationship between the individual and the state. It is a tragedy to hear people repeat their hopes for an Obama Presidency. My hope is that the current humanist and extremist judges that we expect to retire will not do so, though there is 0% chance my hope will be realized. My hope is that when another terrorist attack happens, or a foreign policy disaster surfaces, that Obama will call upon the few people in this country who have the moral and intellectual fiber to deal with it. And mostly, I hope he will just be like all the other politicians we put our hope in: a complete liar, who doesn't dare do all the stuff he says he will. We need this guy taxing the rich into economic healing like we need a kick in the head. But maybe we do need a kick in the head, because the stuff he won off of is so cartoonish, and so stupid, it is almost surreal to think we are living through these times.Mark Steyn said at the Lincoln Club annual dinner earlier this year that the problems facing the country are not our budget deficit, or spending initiatives that we can not afford. Sean Hannity can say all he wants that "if only we re-learn to cut spending ..." that all will be okay. No, as Steyn said, even if Bill Gates wrote a check every single day to cover all the programs the government has that are unaffordable, they would still be wrong. For America is a nation that was built by the power of the people, and by the resolve of an electorate to succeed, without expecting Uncle Sam to do it all for them. What post World War I-Europe became, American has repudiated: a socialistic nanny state of sheep, desperate to be led. We need to do a lot of things, and I enjoy the conversations about which candidate and which TV campaign will help us win elections again, but what we need more than anything else is this: to win the battle for the hearts and minds of our countrymen. America is at a crossroads, and that temptation towards nanny-ism is intense right now. A lot of stupidity and evil went into putting the economy where it is. The idea that Bush and McCain can be blamed, or that Obama can fix it all, is tempting. "The people wanted a King." Now, more than ever.This conservative Republican man of faith just wants a country that appreciates the pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our new President appreciates none of those things. My prayer is that the people will, though, once again.