Sic transit gloria mundi

No worries, good buddy. Today is day one, and we won't stop until we have a new, coherent movement that will take back America and do it with intelligence and honesty.

http://generationpatriot.blogspot.com
http://newconservativeunderground.blogspot.com

...this is a bottle (almost) of champagne speaking....

...perhaps this is stubbornness...

...perhaps this is someone who wonders, again, when women will be more than an afterthought in politics, a dog to be pacified with the bone of abortion rights....

...talking....

but what if we don't much care to light the torches? What if we happen to think that the BEST thing to happen is to let Obama and the Democrats take their policies out upon the country, without the buffer of libertarian beliefs? What if we think that there is a justice in seeing the results of those policies in action, and justice delayed - through the temperance of opposing beliefs - is justice denied? What about those who think that, if America voted for Obama and change, they should get exactly that - no more, no less? What if we think that the single best argument for conservative and libertarian principles is to see any other governing principle in action?

In short - if this isn't the Moet talking, we may wake up friends who are political enemies.

I for one welcome our new insect socialist Euromerican overlords.

(Of course, I started "immunizing" my retirement assets quite a while ago, and without regard to election expectations.)

No time to look yet today, but do we have a national popular vote tally yet? (Yes, I know it'll be off cuz not everwhere is reporting yet, but you know... Just a general idea at this point?)

*Yes, really, Simon's wife. Envy or pity me. ;)

This morning, I feel like I've woken up in an America that is not very different at all from the one I woke up in yesterday or the day before. I feel fairly unconnected to the unrealistically optimistic hyperbole of the victorious left. And I feel just as unconnected to the dark night-insect overlord hyperbole.

Both sides are of course entitled to feel as they do and express that. As a centrist and an independent, It just doesn't register as resembling reality. To whatever extent that America faces darkness, I don't attribute the shift in ideology to being the cause of the darkness. Rather, I see the shift as a response to the perception of impending darkness.

And yeah, I do somewhat feel the pull of dark days. I don't attribute that pull to any ideological shift. I attribute it to the challenges our country faces, which can't be hoped away. And while I myself hope that the remaining ripples of the recent economic crisis are small enough to be bearable, I don't expect that to be the case. Instead, I expect that by January, all the remaining weak members of the retail sector and remaining domestic manufacturing sector will be dropping dead. This will raise more highly the question of where the new domestic jobs will come from to sustain the standard of living that comparatively unskilled Americans have come to expect. I don't find either side's ideology compelling on that subject unless it acknowledges the part that BOTH lowered expectations and greater individual and collective resolve must play.

I also harbor deep concern over the likely Achilles heel that Afghanistan will represent for the new President. It's an inherited problem that has been low in the American consciousness. When its festering becomes apparent as Obama attempts to engage it, the eventual outcome will be on his hands. But we have few good moves there. Since we're the last ones to break it, it seems we have a moral responsibility to try to fix it. But it makes Iraq look like a cakewalk. There are more domestic factions, more neighbors at odds who consider themselves stakeholders, a greater history of tribalism, little nationalistic unity to draw upon, and little economy to speak of.

I doubt that anything short of inviting Afghanistan to become the 51st state can fix it. And that's only partly a joke. Unless a revitalized American effort in Afghanistan enjoys an unimaginable level of domestic support despite our pressing domestic problems, I see little point in undertaking a tragic and quixotic quest due to a sense of moral responsibility. And I say that with GREAT sadness.

I continue to take a wait and see attitude with respect to the policy changes that an Obama admin (alongside a substantial congressional majority) can and will implement. If Obama has studied the first term of Bill Clinton, perhaps he will be smart enough to work from a short list of sensible priorities that have something resembling broad support. Perhaps he will be conscious of the wisdom of not attempting to force through a huge reform plan over substantial objections. Or maybe over-reaching is inevitable. We'll see.

I find theo's notion appealing in that respect: permitting the democrats to overreach could be good for the GOP. I don't know with the current numbers in congress that its actually an issue of permission per se. But I think many folks would agree that the Clinton attempt at healthcare reform was a driver of the 1994 GOP takeover.

On the other hand, one has to contemplate whether the public might view such an effort differently now than they did in 1992. Bill Clinton was elected without a majority, substantially on the legs of the difference that Ross Perot made. Current sentiment could quite possibly carry a similar effort across the finish line in 2009 or 2010.

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I have often said, and oftener think, that this world is a comedy for those who think, and a tragedy for those who feel. -Horace Walpole

Is it going to take the guy who supported McCain for the past year to suggest all of those to the right of center to lighten up a bit. Didn't you listen to Sen. McCain's speech. We aren't changed by one man or one election. The character of the nation is intact. And I'd like you to all to practice saying this phrase: "President Obama, President Obama..."

Chris

PS Say it out loud so you and those around you can hear it.

Ok, so I'm biased here, but conservatives shouldn't be that disheartened (or at least not as much as Simon is). Obama is a liberal, and he'll have a pretty friendly congress to work with. If he is a bad President, the Republicans will have a great shot in 2012--attitudes can change quickly (remember just a few years ago when pundits were talking about the "permanent Republican majority".

And, in a way, this election is a vindication of conservatives' view that with hard work etc. race should not be a barrier to success.

god forbid you practice the patriotism you preach and support your president. you should be ashamed of yourself.