Don’t turn around…

Der kommissar’s in town…

I, for one, welcome our new Marxist overlords. At the very least, I certainly hope it turns out better than we have a right to expect. It’s not like we don’t have reasons to be wary:

Energy policy – we picked the guy who expects to bankrupt the coal industry.
Economy – we picked the guy who wants to tax the snot out of businesses and the working class.
Housing – we picked the guy who took in more than $100,000 from Fannie Mae in exchange for looking the other way while they spun the market into the side of a mountain.
Terrorism – we picked the protégé of radical domestic terrorists, and the darling of appeasers and foreign terrorists.
Life – we picked the guy who thinks babies are punishments.
Law – we picked the guy who thinks the US Constitution is an obstacle to his policy goals.
Free speech – we’ve seen what happens to people who dare raise legitimate questions of the One.

Obama won’t be able to take the oath of office without lying out of both sides of his mouth. But, you know, he’ll look and sound wonderful while doing it!

How? The Democrats convinced America that these were Republican-caused problems. To the Left, the war is OUR fault; they’re rather like a school principal who deals equal punishments to the bully and the child who fought back by knocking out the bully’s front teeth. They blame the economic strain on the GOP, even though it was Democratic policy to make all those risky subprime mortgages, enabled by Democratic supporters (and sizable donors), and protected by Democratic congressmen who chose to spike proposed reforming legislation – simply because it was proposed by the wrong party. And their solution is to increase taxes when people need more of their own money for savings and expenses.

(The cynicism of it just kills me. A lot of people knew all this and simply didn't care, so long as they could stick it to the man. One of the guys at the rink, a big-time Lefty, said "Boy, I bet that business owners are ticked off!" And then he laughed. I find nothing really funny in the thought of people working insanely hard in order to be their own boss, only to have it smashed to bits; nor in paying more for everything because the existing businesses have to raise their prices to cover their increased government-mandated burdens.)

Last night there was a lot of gallows humor around the rink, especially after Ohio and Pennsylvania went blue early. Kind of a drag (to mix my musical references). Unfortunately, for the unborn the gallows part is all too real. We’re stuck with Roe v. Wade for the next 15 years at least, because our President-elect is going to stick us with another Ginsberg and Kennedy, and his Senate is going to rubber-stamp it, and even reasonable restrictions to abortion are going to be struck down by federal fiat.

I also think that the world at large will be more dangerous come January 20. Joe Biden, bless his heart, accidentally told the truth with his “People are gonna test him” speech of his. They are. Last night there were as many high-fives in Gaza as there were in Grant Park. On the major issue of the day, George W Bush held fast, and led a (so-far) successful fight to keep the United States safe from terror attacks. A weak follow-up is likely to undo many of those gains. Negotiation is fine and good, but it doesn’t work unless one either has a willing partner, or the option of more drastic response towards unwilling partners. This isn’t the sort of thing where we can afford to have a diplomatic palaver come to naught – we are not dealing with people who are willing to live and let live. Barack Obama is not going to suddenly cause a radical Islamist to say, “Gee, America ain’t so bad after all, maybe I shouldn’t kill any more infidels.”

Obama is a talker – gives a pretty speech and looks good doing it – but though that can win elections, it can’t change the world. Winston Churchill can reasonably claim to be the best orator of the 20th century, but he didn’t save England with speeches; he had other excelling qualities of leadership. If talking was all that he was good at, he would have failed, and England with him. My observation is that people who are leaders work according to principles to reach a goal. If talk works, they talk. If not, they have other means. People who are talkers only usually have no goal in mind other than to avoid trouble, and if talk doesn’t work, they shrug. They tried, right? Not their fault if the other guy didn’t listen. They then give a speech about how sad it all is, and how history will judge things properly, and that we must all look forward, for the road will be hard.

But the truth is, most roads are hard, so the only question that counts is “what will we have to show for walking this road?” It’s hard to build a highway or master a musical instrument or go to medical school, but at the end, you get a highway, or a concerto, or the knowledge and skill to save lives. It’s also hard to master online video games, but at the end of that all one has is a game that bores or bankrupts you. And this highlights a fundamental difference in the two kinds of road – the first kind is hard because one is striving to achieve and excel, the other is only hard because one has been avoiding any sort of real work, causing terrible (and avoidable) troubles. The skills that could have solved those troubles went neglected. The road becomes far harder simply because one has spent most of the journey riding instead of walking; but those who were diligent find that they can now run tirelessly.

As you see, we’ve come round to philosophy. Everything has a why. In general, I’m not a fan of the “God is smiting us” theory. It’s not that I don’t think that He doesn’t chastise us, as I have the testimony of Scripture clearly saying that He does, and that it’s a sign of His care for us. It’s rather that I respect God’s choice to give us free will. (I also think that God doesn’t need to pull an ACORN and sign up a quarter million imaginary voters somewhere.) Rather, I think that the result of an election like this is a natural consequence of the trends in American society over the last century. ... and that's enough for a second post, to follow this.