The Election is Over. Now What?

Well ladies and gentlemen, the election is over. We all know the result and and given that you are on this site you are probably not happy with the result. However, if you truly are of a conservative mind you also must congratulate yourself. I know you must think as you read this that I am confused or delusional with grief, but ponder this.

Our nation was founded on principles and ideals that even our founders could not live up to at the time. The belief that we are all equal in the God given rights bestowed upon us. That no one life is greater that that of another. One of the things that make this nation great is that its people as individuals and as a society struggle to live up to that uncompromising ideal. Sometimes we succeed. Sometimes we fail. Yet we continue to struggle. Their is honor in striving and failing and even greater glory to obtain when we succeed. Despite the fundamental disagreements I have with the President Elect on every imaginable issue, I believe, that we, as a people and a nation obtained a small portion of that greater glory this election day. While this success was obtained at the expense of other goals that may have drastic consequences in the future, it was still a success. At least a small one.

Secondly, please consider this. Come January 22nd, we will have, for the 44th time in over 200 years, sworn a new President in to office. Not once in all that time has this ever occurred with the threat of violence, at the tip of a sword or under the barrel of a gun. This is an amazing an unprecedented accomplishment not only in our Nation's history but in the history of the world and every time that it occurs, whether we lost or won, we, you, should be proud.

Now, we must do what we, as Americans, always do. We get up in the morning, go to work, and solve our problems. We raise our children and instill in them the values and principles we believe in. We raise our voices for what we believe and deny the opposition the right to shout us down. Yes we are a minority at the moment, but never, ever be a silent one.

The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance. The battle continues. Good Luck.

McCain's loss a Boon for Conservative Movement

McCain's loss on election day is best thing to happen to for the conservative movement since the 1994 congressional elections.

The bland, middle of the road milquetoast campaign he ran and the inevitable loss that was its result has served to directly repudiate the belief of non-conservative republicans that they can win by playing a game of me too, and by excepting the premises of the left and simply applying a pseudo- conservative spin to them in order to make them more palatable to the base. McCain's standing on global warming policies being one of the most apparent and his failure to fight to the end to defeat the housing market bail out another. When we except liberalism in even the smallest amount it's no different than handing our executioner the axe or the noose.

In today's political spectrum you do not win by reaching across the aisle unless you are reaching across with a bat and beating the crap out of your opponent. McCain's loss should put that argument to bed and tuck it in for good. McCain reached across the aisle proudly and got his arm broken for it.

To win you must delineate the differences between you and your opponent. You must speak from principled beliefs. It is not enough to just attack your opposition. You have to show the electorate what you have to offer instead and it cannot be a watered down version of what the other guy is saying. These principles have to be in place before you start to campaign. They can't be formed as you go along. McCain spent the last 8 years opposing Bush and his party at nearly every step then turns around and has to change his mind on nearly everything in order to get in line with his base. It only served to make him appear disingenuous at best and a slave to political expediency at worst. Offshore drilling and McCain Feingold are obvious examples. McCain's change of heart on the Bush tax cuts was another. While Palin was a nice gimme for the conservative base McCain failed to recognize that people don't vote for the bottom of the ticket, they vote for the top. Ronald Reagan as the VP would not have secured the conservative vote unless McCain promised to die the day after the inaugural.

But we owe McCain a debt of gratitude. He dug a grave and pushed in the moderates of our party and then jumped on top of them. Our job now is to support those who would grab the shovel and finish the job. Just as long as they don't throw in a flower first.