Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Open Season 2012: Epilogue

The election is over, the incumbent is still an incumbent and the challenger is probably trying to get some rest. Analyzers are analyzing and pundits are picking apart what the analyzers report. Meanwhile the vast majority of Americans are going about their business – going to work, looking for work, avoiding work. And of course there are the lucky few who are done with work, having completed their obligations.

As a supporter of the challenger I am, of course, disappointed. Here in my home state I was disappointed from the top to the bottom of the ballot. Not that I expected any joyous outcome here, but one does hope for an occasional spot of light. It was not to be this year.

It’s interesting to me that so many of my fellow citizens so obviously feel that the government is where we should look for progress and good ideas. My view is definitely not in line with those folks. And I suppose if we look at the popular vote count we do see that in terms of percentages, the margin of the majority is very small. In other words, in spite of the incumbent’s victory there is no clear mandate and the country is still sharply divided. How the administration addresses that division will be the key to whether or not the nation continues its decline or whether it heals and grows. The past four years have not been too exemplary in bringing people together. Maybe without the pressure of needing to be re-elected the administration will look for wider solutions to the problems of the economy and other major issues.

A lot of my fellow conservatives are in deep despair today. They are predicting doom and they are shadowed by gloom. My feelings are a little different. I believe that our system of governance, with all of its built in checks and balances, will withstand an assault of foolish actions. It will be difficult, especially if the folks in power tamper too much with the founding documents. But if they try to do too much tampering there are legal remedies in place to abrogate those efforts. And there is an opposition leadership now that is vocal and organized, ready to stop things from getting too far out of hand. So I’m still not ready to look for asylum in some other country. That’s not to say that I don’t belong in a different kind of asylum.

In conclusion there is a definite advantage to having this election over and done. And that advantage is that you won’t be pestered with any more of these long and boring political diatribes, at least not until the next election cycle.

Now go with hope and have a fine day.

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