Within a few minutes of Senator McCain’s concession speech last night I was asked a couple of times, “what now?” After thinking on this a bit, I wanted to write up my opinion.
For eight years now people have trashed and bashed President Bush. Right now I want to make it very clear that I will not disrespect President-elect Obama in such a way. At this point he has earned my respect as a great motivator and he now has the chance to earn my respect as Commander-In-Chief. But regardless of what he does or does not do while it office, I will always respect the office that he now holds.
For those who want to throw a fit and pout like a baby. Feel free. Have at. Wallow in self-pity all you want… until January 20th. Then get up, dust yourself off, and prove your patriotism. For all through this campaign we conservatives have spouted how patriotic we are. If that’s true, now is the time to prove it. For a patriot is not one who is loyal to a single man nor a single party. It’s one who is loyal to his or her country. And even though the person we wanted to win didn’t, our country is still here. And that which binds us together is stronger than any electoral defeat. It’s stronger than any party affiliation. We’ve seen this time and time again. When the reason is big enough, we have always come together as a country regardless of party. We are citizens of the United States of America! Regardless of who is the President, this will be the greatest nation on this planet!
Am I happy that Obama won? Of course not. Will I just continue on, business as usual? Not on your life. The Bible commands me, as a Christian, to pray for those in power. And come January, we will have President Obama in power. And that Biblical command is one I intent to follow. And it’s one that I expect all my fellow Christians to follow
That’s it?
Is pray all that we’re suppose to do? Not by a long shot. As Christians and as conservatives, we can learn a lot from Obama and the way he ran his campaign. We’ve just witnessed an underdog become the top dog. We need to learn from him. And we need to improve our own political plans. McCain ran a great campaign, but he failed miserably in one respect. He failed to inspire. Time and time again, McCain’s campaign and supporters showed flaws in Obama’s plans for our nation. Time and time again it was shown that Obama associates with people that most of us wouldn’t want our President to associate with. But none of that had any effect on his campaign. Why? Because Obama, unlike McCain, inspired people. He sold them on hope. And, as Americans, we should all know that hope is one of the most powerful human emotions, second only to love. Our country was founded on hope. As Christians our faith is build on hope (for faith is the substance of things hoped for). It it my opinion that Obama’s policies could have been the exact same as Senator McCain’s or even President Bush’s and he still would have won this election, because of hope.
It’s time for Christians, and conservatives as a whole, to find our hope. Find what inspires us. Obama didn’t win just because the liberals liked him. Obama’s message transcended party lines and religious beliefs. He sold a generalized message of hope that applied to everyone. It’s time we found our message of hope and learned to convey it as well as Obama has done.
What’s Next?
Additionally, I have a few other opinions on what we, as a nation, need to do before the next election. Much of what I wrote above was geared to my fellow Christians. The rest of this is for everyone who calls themselves an American. These are my opinions on what we can do to change our nation for the better.
- I think we need to work to level the playing field so that the race doesn’t always come down to Democrat and Republican. There were, I believe, eleven candidates for President on my ballot, most of which I had never even heard of.
- I feel we need to work to place limits on the campaigns in terms of finance and advertising; again, so the other parties can compete. The last several elections (both of Bush’s in particular and Obama’s to an extent) almost make it seem that the office of President can be bought. This has been the belief of many for years anyway, but now it’s just getting obvious.
Why do I want more than two major political parties? Well, right now two of our three branches of government now controlled by a single political party. And if the predictions hold true, President-elect Obama will have the opportunity to appoint one, and possibly two, Supreme Court Justices during the next four years. It’s entirely possible that all three branches of our government will be controlled by those who share a common ideology. Personally I find that dangerous, regardless of the ideology. Our founding fathers broke the government down into branches in order to have checks and balances. If all three branches share the same ideology that removes those safeguards. What has kept our nation strong is the fact that we are truly a melting pot. That we have a wide range of views on all the issues and everyone works together, not for the good of themselves, but for the good of the nation as a whole.
So, in two years when many Congressmen and Congresswomen come up for reelection I’d really like to see some seats going to the Libertarian party, the Constitution party, and even the Green party. Having only two major parties leads to the polarization of the nation, which we’ve seen all through this election and which we saw last night with the winner only receiving 53% of the popular vote. This was a more negative, with more attack ads, and just an all around meaner campaign than any that I recall in my thirty-one years on this planet. And I think the reason for it was because of the way the Democrats and Republicans were trying to polarize every issue.
President-elect Obama has preached change for a while. I admit I’m not a fan of change. We all know it’s human nature to resist change. But if we have to change, then let’s do it logically and methodically. Obama’s message of hope was great and that emotion won him the election. But let us make sure that the changes to our nation are made not with emotion or blind devotion, but clear, logical minds. In order for that to happen, we all need to stand up and let our voices be heard. You voted yesterday, that’s great. Now, go bookmark the Senate and House websites and visit them often. Sign up for your Congressman’s email list. Stay informed and voice your opinions on every bill and amendment hits the floor of the House or Senate. Obama has said that he will listen to the voice of the people. Let us make sure that he hears all the voices, not just the vocal minorities, but all of us. Christians, Muslims, Atheists, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Independents. It doesn’t matter to me. Are you someone who messed up and lost your right to vote? That sucks, but guess what?!?! You can still email your views to your Representative! Obama did a great job motivating those who follow him. Let’s not let that momentum die down! Regardless of your political beliefs, get out there and share them. As a nation, I think the worst thing we could do now is to go back to our apathetic ways.
My previous political blog post was a rant. This one is a call to action. Even if you support Obama, now is not quitting time. Round one is over, round two is about to begin. It’s my belief that we all have gifts and skills. Find a way to use them to make this country a better place. Find your passion, and work for it. Stay active in the political arena.
I am Jeremy Weiss and I approve this message (but deny any responsibility for typos).
Prior to NASA’s Apollo 11 moon landing in ‘69, NASA sent several several orbiters to photograph the surface of the moon so that they could, among other things, choose a landing site. The data that was transmitted back was recorded on large magnetic tapes, and then transferred to photographic film for analysis. However, because of the limits of the technology available at the time, the images retrieved were of a much lower resolution than the original photos taken by the orbiters. Once NASA was done analyzing the data, all the tapes were mothballed in Maryland. In the mid-1980s, they were transferred to JPL, under the care of Nancy Evans.