We are interested in who you are and where you live, your thoughts on the outcome and the reason, and particularly your information about your own specific region and the elections and referendum questions there. Once again, please, real names STRONGLY preferred if at all possible–KSH.
James Bourne from Maryland. Voting conservative in this state is rather like spitting into the wind. Not only did we vote Blue on the national ticket, but approved same-sex marriage, and the expansion of gambling. America is no longer a center-right nation, but simply a middle of the road nation. The Republican Party tried to win this election with the old coalition, and it just doesn’t work now. The GOP needs to get ahead of the issues on immigration, jettison the Tea Party faction, and rebuild a moderate consensus party that is truly center-right.
That said, the opportunities are boundless. The gospel ministry is beckoning to be shared with those around us. We need to re-imagine ministry outside the four walls of the church and into the communities and work places; the street corners, and (for me) farmers’ markets. The opportunity for real ministry to real people will continue to grow.
I was born a free man. Now I will be required to teach my children how to prosper under fascism.
It is evident that we have but a short time before the economic inflection point is reached and what passes for civilization crashes back into anarchy, and the waiting barbarians are let in.
Further thought following my initial depression, however, reminds me that this world is transient, and that in the bigger picture all that has happened is further immanentization of the eschaton ( to borrow from Mr. Buckley). It’s gonna be a bumpy ride, but I read the book, and I know how it ends.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
I wrote to a Bishop on Saturday and told him that the mission of the Church and the people of God would be the same on Wednesday as it has always been. The election on Tuesday would decide whether we were on offense or defense. Give me a “D”, give me an “e”………you know the rest. In recent months, I have been talking to my flock about remnant theology, in preparation for this day. I believe we are going to experience that lonely place up front and very personally. Be prepared.
It is not surprising that gay marriage passed in Maryland. Back in 2007 the Washington Post did an article about teenage girls being encouraged to come out in a sex ed class in Montgomery County. Further, I spoke to a research scientist, who was on the committee for the county that came up with their new sex ed guidelines, which said homosexuality is innate. She said that there were almost 20 gay activists besides herself and one other person, who was also interested in truth. The people on the committee kept bringing previously discredited science as well as studies that did not stand up to scrutiny. In the end, they just voted what they wanted. They also allowed the gay group in at least one school to set up a trash can labeled PFOX, for the flyers of the Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-gays. Teachers and guards protected the trash cans. The last I heard they were planning to do away with flyers to silence PFOX. Yet the Washington Post actually did an article about Lisa Diamond’s study of young women 16-23, which shows that 58% of the lesbians changed attractions and/or identities over eight years. Before the activists got to her, Diamond said,”As gays, we have predicated our acceptance by the culture on something we can’t change. We say, ‘Oh look at us! We can’t help it!’ That’s what the straights want to hear.” It might be a good idea to let our kids know that research actually refutes the stereotype before they are brainwashed.
RE: “The GOP needs to get ahead of the issues on immigration, jettison the Tea Party faction, and rebuild a moderate consensus party that is truly center-right.”
What a richly ironic assertion, given that the last gasp of “center-right” “moderate consensus” just lost the election.
[i]What a sweeping repudiation of that philosophy was enacted on the Republican Party last night.[/i] And the conservatives see that, take note of it, and will act on it.
As a conservative, I say “good luck, moderate consensus GOP — we’re moving on with or without you.”
There will be no rebuilding of a “moderate consensus party” that is capable of accomplishing anything other than what was accomplished last night.
I relish the clear chasm and conflict between the conservatives and liberals in this country and look forward to the next four years, other than the fiscal pain which we will all experience in spades.
I am with Sarah. I have no interest in the Republican Party winning elections for the sake of the Republican Party. I voted Republican only because it represented constitutional conservatism ie Tea Party. On top of Justice Roberts selling out the Constitution this is simply the last straw.
An interesting aspect of this is that here in North Carolina we just put Republicans in charge of both houses of the legislature and elected a Republican governor by a wide margin. Things may very well get better in our state except for the malign effects of what the federal government will be up to in the coming years. 60% of states now are governed by Republicans, many of them not faux conservatives. If you don’t like your conditions, move South or West (but not too far West), but don’t bring your politics with you.
Further, I haven’t read the conservative political blogs this morning. I’m too depressed. But the question is, what to do now, on the national level? The answer I’m considering is this: Sequestration was Obama’s idea. Let it roll. He’s going to raise taxes for sure. At least sequestration would take spending levels down. That’s something.
First of all my condolences to all Romney supporters here. I can relate to your feelings of depression as I felt that way when George W Bush was elected to his 2nd term. 🙂
Katherine…thank you for introducing me to the term “sequestration.” I had to look that one up and I agree that it is a step in right direction in regards to reducing spending.
Oh sorry I forgot to mention I am a multi-generational Democrat dating back to probably Andrew Jackson and I live in Metro NYC. I didn’t vote because the polls closed before my post Hurricane Sandy commute out of NYC ended but I was happy with President Obama’s re-election. Obviously, I don’t agree with all his policies and plans but he was the better candidate of the two in my opinion.
On the bright side, Obama can’t blame George W. Bush any more. This is now his economy and he’ll stand or fall with it. Given the fact that the President is an economic illiterate with no clue how or why jobs are created, I suspect that this economy will fall earlier and farther than his supporters will like. I was recently informed that after the first of the year, my job will no longer exist so Obama and his party can claim that. And they’ll eventually get most if not all of my retirement. So my sympathy for all those soon-to-be-unemployed Obama voters will be next-to nonexistent.
Mac Boney in North Carolina. Sequestration was a cowards way out. They didn’t want to take a stand and really do anything, they were afraid it might hurt their political chances so they put in this automatic and destructive time bomb. In the southeastern part of the state, much has come to a standstill. New Home construction is almost non-existant. In late 2007 my son-in-law had 29 men working for him laying brick. They were making between 14.50 and 28.00 per hour. Today there is him, his brother and his brother-in-law and not enough work to keep the three of them busy 40 hours a week. This man is not a slackard. He works hard and tries to do what is right. The lack of a meaningful recovery is costing people like him who built a good business and then everything fell apart. With a confirmed socialist in the white house I do not look for anything to get better. Business will not grow when taxed to death, businesses will not locate here because of the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Jobs will continue to go overseas as Obama pushes for forced unionization. Companies can not afford to pay the artificially high union wage and benefit packages, so the jobs will go overseas. With all the regulations that EPA is putting out, without congressional approval, look for utility rates to rise by at least 33% over the next two years. Look for gas prices to top $5.00 per gallon soon because of Obamanomics and energy policies that will cripple US industry. The man is incompetent and we are going to pay for it. Individual disposable income will take a big hit when all the taxes that Obama wants to raise are in place. He is creating a socialist state just as surely as I am writing this. When Frank Marshall Davis is your biggest mentor growing up and you seem incapable of truth, what can we expect? I look for declining economic health, the forced acceptance of “gay marriage” and the creation of thought crimes and the loss of freedom of religion, loss of the right to keep and bear arms, and the imposition of these by treaties through the UN. Obama will give away the soverignty of the US just to make himself feel good. I do not see any way that we will climb out of the mess we are in under the lack of leadership of Obama. He doesn’t know how to or he doesn’t want to help our economy. He said he would fundamentally transform America. That is right out of Frank Marshall Davis writings. The rate of this transformation and remaking into a socialist dictatorship will only increase. Being reelected does give him more clout and freedom to govern by executive decree. He told us that if congress wouldn’t do it his way that he would just go around congress and do it anyway. One of the few honest statements this man has made. Look back on some things that have happened: the Attorney General fights any attempt at securing the electorial process, Why? Why did the NLRB attack Boeing for building a plant in a right to work state that did not take “union jobs” from Washington? Why won’t Obama approive an oil pipe line that would boost the economy? Why won’t Obama allow drilling on federal lands oir offshore? He is obsessively pursuing “green energy” at the expense of the American public. How can the President enact the ‘Dream Act’ that congress refused to pass just by executive order? How can the President obstruct justice by not allowing the auto companies to go through the bankruptcy courts? That way they could have gotten out of the crippling union contracts, but that didn’t sit well with Obama, he had to protect his union buddies. How did he give the company to the UAW and shut out the investors that lost their investment to the benefit of you guessed it the Union Bosses? That vi0lates every principal of equity which the bankruptcy courts are supposed to be, courts of equity. How is it that the Attorney General can obstruct justice by dismissing a suit against the New Black Panthers after the Court had entered its ruling? How is it that the President can hide obstruction of justice in the Fast and Furioups case by executive order? Do not look for anything good to come out of this election. I wonder if the country will survive as the democratic republic that it has been. I have my doubts. Look for more devisive policies, more forced poverty, less productivity and a general decline of the country. SEquestration will cripple our national defense, but that is fine with O, he doesn’t think we are an exceptional country anyway and we don’t need the defenses if we would only embrace radical islam. Just wake up and realize that everything will be OK if we just do it his way, he knows better than anyone else.
I believe we need to go off the fiscal cliff. The Democrats can own what they have created. No more agreeing to kick the can.
#12, of course sequestration is the coward’s way out. You don’t seriously think this president will grow a spine or common sense because he’s been re-elected, do you? He’ll continue to blame Bush and govern by decree. Sequestration is the only way any spending cuts of any kind would happen. It’s not the right way, but voters have rejected a better way.
Why am I surprised the craven Republicans are now caving? I’m no longer willing to play games with either party. The pox on both of them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/boehner-opens-door-to-new-revenue-to-halt-debt/2012/11/07/2912c5ce-2919-11e2-b4e0-346287b7e56c_story.html
No matter what Obama does, if the outcome is negative, it will always be Bush’s fault. I live with that fact on a daily basis. I am used to it. My defense is to claim that any good that falls into our personal lives, no matter how hard we work for it, Bush is the one responsible for it.
At least I get some amusement out of it, if no one else does.
The country will survive, and would have survived either of them. The fact that so many here don’t seem to believe that belies the claims of American exceptionalism that supposedly rule every conservative heart. (It continues to amaze me that tea party types who claim to love the country more than thou seem to hate everything that has happened in it since Marbury v. Madison).
As for me, I’m doing my best to remind myself that schadenfreude is not a Christian response.
#16… Ah George W Bush’s presidency…there might be some truth to Obama’s scapegoating.
You know, I will always fondly remember the W for 3 things. First, he should be remembered for his great economic policies such as blowing the US government surplus left over from the Clinton administration and fighting military conflicts (one fabricated) funded through Chinese loans. Second, he should be remembered for his incredible statesmanship such as his creation of the Axis of Evil and his keen ability to alienate the rest of the free world through his “going at it alone” spirit. Lastly, let’s not forget his great oratory skills! Through his mastery of malapropisms, neologisms and spoonerisms, American English speakers worldwide were introduced to new words, new ways to use old words, and new ways to construct sentences.
Are you still getting some humor out of it?
RE: “The fact that so many here don’t seem to believe that . . .”
Weird. Guess Alta Californian didn’t read the comments, since everybody here knows that the US will still continue to “exist.”
Of course, that begged the question as to *what kind of country* would still exist. And conservatives are saying that the kind of country that will exist is the kind of country that Alta Californian approves of, of course, but which is antithetical to the values of individual liberty, limited government, free enterprise, private property rights, and the Constitution.
All of that is and has been quite clear.
So again — Alta Californian, having a mutually opposing foundational worldview from conservatives, is glad that Obama won. No surprises there, given what he believes.
As to schadenfreude — I’m just fine with libs feeling that; I’m indifferent to what they think or feel about it all; I’ve got better things to focus on than lib feelings or thoughts. We conservatives will feel it as the economy continues to decline. Neither group feeling it will affect the other, so it’s pretty moot.
RE: “Are you still getting some humor out of it?”
I am — and I’m glad Frances is as well. Libs can be entertaining — take, for instance, your faulty assessment of the Bush terms. That’s fun — and demonstrative of precisely what this thread is talking about.
Good stuff.
My general reaction: Four more years of the Piltdown POTUS is a very high price to pay for making sure that Hillbillary will never see the inside of the WH again as residents. Clint Eastwood was right… this POTUS is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.
And just to keep things amusing, don’t forget what the Sybil said to Claudius (at least in the PBS series): Let all the poisons in the mud hatch out.
–CMDT
RE: “Are you still getting some humor out of it?â€
Yes, I am, too–it will be funny to see the libs’ reactions when all the big government types truly can’t sustain “handout nation” like all the give-me rabble want.
The other big Maryland issue was gerrymandering. Our map of congressional districts has gotten increasingly snarled, to the point where District 3 (declared the 3rd least compact district in the country) looks like a splatter at anything less than a pretty high magnification. Half of the state’s representatives live around Baltimore. The point of all these contortions was to get Roscoe Bartlett out of District 6, and unfortunately it worked. Equally unfortunately, the referendum to force them to redraw the lines failed. I figure in eight years they will manage to snake half the districts down the eastern shore to oust the last Republican. Of course as far as this adding up to representation, the DC area and central part of the state is getting screwed over because they raid it for Democrats to dilute the more rural and conservative parts of the state.
In Western NC we now have 2 Republican US Congressmen, one re-elected despite having liberal central Asheville added to his district, one elected to replace a “blue dog” Democrat. Two of the three NC House will be Republicans; 4 of the 7 Buncombe Commission will be Republicans, an additional conservative has been added to the county school board, and the President of the Buncombe County Republican Men’s Club is leading in the race for Soil and Water Supervisor. And NC has a Republican governor.
Finally because the Governor will be a Republican I may well move from being a Republican election judge to being Chief Judge – and $25 more pay for a 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM election day.
Tom Rightmyer, Asheville NC
The country will survive……Obama or no Obama. We are a nation of states…..a republic, and not a nation willing to live under socialism. Regardless of this President’s policies, we the people will still prevail. We may or may not place our trust in him, but for better or for worse, he is our President. He cannot act alone, and must act in accordance with the Constitution.
Remember: we have a system of checks and balances in order that one part of the Federal Government cannot act unilaterally. Thus, there can be no dictatorship of one man without risking the ire of all of us. No one…..neither the President, the Congress, nor the Supreme Court can act alone without risk to themselves. We the people are the law.
And I have news for those opposed to the Tea Party Patriots: Think you’ve heard the last from us? Guess again!
Already Boehner is ready to throw in the towel: blockquote] Speaker of the House John Boehner delivered a direct message to President Barack Obama after Obama’s victory in the election: “This is your moment†and “we want you to succeed.†[/blockquote]
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/11/07/boehner-to-obama-this-is-your-moment-we-want-you-to-succeed/#ixzz2Bd2nyIVu