Post Election Musings...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

The week certainly has been interesting to say the least. Interesting but really a week with no surprises and no real change.

rEpublicans, having failed to successfully make the case for sending Obama back to Chicago are already busy trying to figure out "What Went Wrong." Good luck with that. You guys had four years to figure it out after 2008 and you simply put the same suit back up with a different caricature filling it out. Again the American people rejected the candidate. Oops.

Better luck in 2016. People won't be expecting much though. Other than maybe watching the rEpublican tent grow smaller while listening to Limbaugh, Hannity, Rove, and the rest of the talking heads of the rEpublican good old boy network power structure. It will be fun watching the party whose election it was lose in 2012 try and come up with a winning strategy for 2016. Suggestion, change not only your suit but your glasses as well.

Speaker Boner is signaling possible short term compromise with the democrats to avoid fiscal Armageddon the first of this coming year, the result of across the board automatic domestic and defense spending cuts. Short term, really Mr. Boner? Why what a surprise. Short term fixes for long term problems is what DC is best at. The partisans should be good at it, they've been doing it for a very long time. Plenty of blame to go around. Saving that subject for another day.

And the dEmocrats, well, they won the day. Like it or not, even though the President's margin of victory does not a mandate make he out foxed the other fox. Congratulation Mr. President. Now is your opportunity to forge a winning coalition with the rEpublicans. Perhaps you should inquire if Mr. Clinton would give you a hand in steering a successful centrist course for the next four years. Reasonable people I'm guessing would applaud such an attempt.

Making government work for the people requires more than just short term solutions. It requires so much more than ideological bickering, warfare, and ultimate refusal to put the interests of the counties fiscal responsibilities first and foremost. It requires more than being just a Federal Santa Claus as well. Again, another subject for another day as there will certainly be ample opportunities for discussion.

America is changing, it has been almost since the countries infancy. In many ways the changes have been positive and good for the nation, in other ways not so much. Demographics are changing, America is becoming more diverse with each passing year. Many in the rEpublican party it seems want to stop the flowing current of societal change and thereby stop time in its tracks. Change is never easy, it is often misunderstood, and more often than not it is resisted.

The key to a successful future lies in finding a way to integrate changing demographics and a more liberal social order with a conservative and sensible fiscal policy. One that recognizes government's proper role in a free and civil society yet at the same time allows for and expects individual responsibly and initiative.

For me one of the best post election telephone interviews was done by Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop" with Ron Paul. Representative Paul is retiring at the end of his term. Hopefully his voice will continue to be heard for a very long time to come.

The Washington Times - Rep. Ron Paul, whose maverick presidential bids shook the GOP, said in the wake of this week's elections that the country has already veered over the fiscal cliff and he sees no chance of righting ship in a country where too many people are dependent on government.

"We're so far gone. We're over the cliff," the Texas Republican told Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop" program. "We cannot get enough people in Congress in the next 5-10 years who will do wise things."

Mr. Paul, who is retiring after 12 terms in the House, said voters on Tuesday rejected Mitt Romney because he had opposed the government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler.

"The people in the Midwest voted against him: 'Oh, we have to be taken care of!' So that vote was sort of like what we are laughing at in Greece," Mr. Paul said.

"People do not want anything cut," he said. "They want all the bailouts to come. They want the Fed to keep printing the money. And they don't believe that we've gone off the cliff or are close to going off the cliff. They think we can patch it over, that we can somehow come up with some magic solution. But you can't have a budgetary solution if you don't change what the role of government should be. As long as you think we have to police the world and run this welfare state, all we are going to argue about is who will get the loot."

Political give and take, arguments over governing philosophy and ideology is well and good. Being able to do so is after all what makes America great. That protected right to criticize our elected government, and criticize it strongly when necessary is a right we all hope we never lose. However, when the political and ideological differences result in continuing gridlock and stratification, as well as bringing us closer to the precipice isn't it time to begin thinking outside the box of conventional wisdom and find solutions? The question goes to both sides Mr. Reid, Mr.Boehner , AND Mr. President.

Update: - Mr. Krudman advising the President to "hang tough." Like I have said, more gridlock to come. Brace yourself America, as it is sure to continues to get ugly. The Age of Divisiveness, time both sides looked in the mirror. My opinion and I'm sticking by it.

Update 2x

BuzzFeed Politics - President Barack Obama has been elected twice by a coalition that reflects the diversity of America. Republicans have struggled to win with ever-higher percentages of the shrinking share of the population that is white men — "a Mad Men party in a Modern Family world," in the words of one strategist.

But at America's founding, only white men could vote, and the franchise has only slowly expanded to include people of color, women, and — during the Vietnam War — people under 21. These maps show how American politics would have looked in that undemocratic past.

It would be a VERY good idea for the rEpublican party to check out the following maps provided in this link. They just may provide a clue as to why the rEpublican party has lost two successive national elections.

Via: Memeorandum