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Anchoress: Reasons for optimism
Actually, Im not optimistic. Ive been mostly out of it for a couple or three days now, and have almost no idea what is going on in the world, outside of the stuff Id have known whether I read the news or not (you know, Al Qaeda is rejoicing the Dem win and the Dems are seriously focused on
ummm
not Iraq or terrorism
)So, for all I know, my happy little thoughts born under a days-long febrile situation could be so much mush as of this moment but I said Id share em, so I will, and Ill hope they dont sound like gibberish. I know many people are depressed, but while I am not happy about the election outcome, I do think its unseemly for Christians, at least, to be depressed our God is not politics or the GOP, right? Remember things turn on a dime, nothing is static and God has his hand in everything. And remember this: The Evil loves discord - evil HAD to love what has been going on in this country for the past 8 years. While the Dems are going to be holding on to their hate for a while (and the press will more than let them), the more-rational, more moderately-inclined people who may have gotten caught up in the venom of the last couple of years will let go of it and look to see what solutions are forthcoming. The Dems have been screaming work with us, we matter now, they have a seat at the table with a president who tried like hell to work with them in the beginning of his run (and got smacked down for it, repeatedly) and who will do what he thinks is best for the nation. Now, they have to put up or shut up, and if they want to be taken seriously, theyre going to have to actually do some work. So will the election take the wind out of their sails of hate? It has to, eventually. And uh-oh, the evil cant like that. Good always overcomes evil we just dont always understand what that looks like while were in the thick of things, or recognise it when it comes our way. But the Holy Spirit has a way of working with things that look like disasters, and making them work for the best. Remember when Rudy Giuliani had to bow out of the senate race from the prostate cancer? Everyone mourned, we know only he could beat Hillary and we thought, what a freaking disaster But because he bowed out of that race, he was the mayor of NYC when 9/11 happened and he was exactly the man that needed to be there. Had he been a senator, the truly goofy and uninspiring Mark Greene would have been mayor and he would have terrified us even more. I am under the weather and cant express this well. But remember this, too - people tend to forget it. Bush is a man living a creed before he is the president. He is the president of the whole country before he is a republican. He is a republican before he is a conservative. Conservatives, especially, really forgot that this year, when they crucified him for daring to nominate Harriet Miers, for the Dubai deal and immigration. While Bush has always been consistent (hes always been exactly who he is), suddenly the good things hed done were not enough, and we had to endure the spectacle of Bushs cock-sure pure conservative betters in the press and some blogs throw him under the bus. Kind of interesting, really. President Bush has always been a center-right man, the left painted him as a far-right nazi, and the far-right said he wasnt conservative enough. Whether they like to admit it or not, that partly contributed to his general unpopularity, which directly contributed to this loss. Independents and others saw that even Bushs own people didnt like him, so they didnt like him, either (and disdain has even longer coattails than admiration). Nobody wants to be with the unpopular kid, so when they left Bush behind, they left any votes they might have hung for the GOP. The bite of the conservative purists did not lose the election but it did contribute to the whole infection of negativity that surrounded it. Now, the uber-conservative my way or the highway types have lots to think about (and no chance to see more strict constitutionalist judges make it to the SCOTUS), and maybe a lesson or two to learn (anyone who bloviates that he/she/they have nothing to learn only proves that have much to learn). Once we figure out what the lessons are, some of us will learn them, others wont. One thing we can be sure of is that the Dems will still need to learn that America does not like my way or the highwayism It goes against our very natures. Maybe we on the right and they on the left can all learn it together. So far, I dont think the right has learned it I read something on a blog a few days ago, a conservative writing, Bush lost this on purpose so he can get his immigration amnesty through! Riiiiiiggght thats exactly what just happened. 2004 was not a landslide win, and while the country might be trending center-right, I do think CENTER is the operative word, there. Balance comes from the center, and balance is a good and desirable thing. The country has been in an ugly, ugly place for 8 years, since Clintons impeachment. It was not going to get better if the GOP kept winning the left was only going to get more insane and bitter, the GOP was going to get more arrogant and entrenched and less willing to take chances and risk their seats. This election, in the end, is just a realignment, a correction. But unlike the small corrections that routinely occur in the stock market, this one is going to be a lengthy one, and a very important one - its going to be a correction that either pulls us together and makes us a stronger nation, or utterly sinks as we bog down in political payback and recrimination. The Dems are going to be accountable now, thats going to change things. And dont forget, half of everything you see is an illusion anyway - a great deal of what we live through daily is like smoke that takes shape only to dissipate into nothingness. Figure out what the important issues are and demand that the leadership focus on them, and then keep your eyes on the press, who surely won this last engagement as much as the GOP lost it. Posted by: Mike 2006-11-12 |
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