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11/10/2008 Send this article to a friend The election of the first African American president would mean so much: how far we have come as a nation; new opportunity for people of color; a signal to the world; RFK's prophecy come true – that we would elect an African American in 40 years. November 4, 2008 will surely take its place in history. Young first time voters will someday tell their children about the day they voted for the first African American president. And we have only begun to realize this election's impact on our nation and the rest of the world. What, for instance, will it say to Muslim nations that the United States of America overwhelmingly elected to the presidency, in a time of war against two Muslim nations, not just an African American, but a man whose middle name is "Hussein" and a man whose father was from a Muslim family? As America is still the pre-eminent nation in the world, what implications will this courageous and inspiring vote have for peace, justice, and equality around the globe? And what does it say that four short years after liberals told the world we were sorry for the election of George W. Bush, and we tried our best but failed, that Americans were willing to put into office someone who represented a total repudiation of that last election? Speaking for myself, it hasn't yet fully sunk in. Like many other liberals, I was so worried about an "October surprise" in which Republican Secretaries of State would disenfranchise African Americans, or rig voting machines, or pull some other dirty trick to defeat my candidate, that I almost couldn't believe the victory when it was announced. We do not yet know all the changes that will take place in an Obama presidency. We don't know what it will mean for the economy, or the wars, or racial issues, or women's issues, or the environment, or health care, or all the other issues liberals care so much about. But we have more than hope. We have trust. We trust Obama. So far he has been a man of his word. He has no hidden agenda. And he has wisdom beyond his years. We are, in short, relieved. We may not be out of the woods on so many levels, but we trust that Obama will lead us out. We knew, when conservatives and wing-nuts were accusing him of being a terrorist, a socialist, a secret Muslim, etc. etc. that it was just the desperation of power unwilling to let go. We knew it was the typical paranoia that infects right wing movements, especially when they are on the verge of death. Obama's victory is not just a victory for Democrats. It is also a victory for America, proof that America has fundamentally changed. And so when Obama won with 8 million more votes than McCain, a landslide comparable to that of FDR and LBJ, it meant that the conservative movement, begun with Goldwater and reaching its peak with Reagan, was on life support. It has been sliding downhill as a viable philosophy ever since the election of Bush I, but it always managed to survive by cobbling together disparate groups of people (neocons, theocons and corporatists), and peddling fear, sleaze and hate. But those days are over. With this election, hope has beaten fear. Change has beaten paralysis. Civility has beaten sleaze. Diversity has beaten white supremacy. And the forces of good government have beaten the forces of anti-government. The few remaining conservatives with a voice on FOX, a newspaper column or a radio show are insisting we are still a "center-right nation," but they are dead wrong, and in deep denial of what this election reflects: a sea change in the political psyche of America, or rather a return to our roots. The truth is we have always been a progressive nation, a nation that embraces change and risk and new ideas, populated by citizens who are themselves immigrants or the descendents of immigrants. The soul of the American people, explorers and pioneers and inventors and immigrants, is the exact opposite of conservatism. Because conservatism is ultimately a combination of fear and hate, paranoia and tribalism. Conservatism is cowardice. Conservatism tries to stop the forward progress of history. Yesterday, on FOX News, Rep. Mike Pence summarized what conservatism stands for: "limited government, a belief in free markets… the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage." Yet policies derived from these issues have either failed under conservative government or been shown to be frauds, wedge issues that no longer work to the advantage of Republicans. It was Ronald Reagan, the promoter of limited government, who wooed so many voters with the statement: "Government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem." This is the essence of modern conservatism: hatred of the government. But in a nation where the government is "of, by, and for the people," this sentiment could not last. Sooner or later, people who hated government would destroy government. People who did not respect the people would leave the people behind. Under George W. Bush, the people have been left behind - in VA hospitals, on roof tops in New Orleans, on a bridge in Minnesota, and in suburbs all across America as they packed up belongings from homes they could no longer afford because of loans they should never have been offered. Children have been left without health care and workers have been left without jobs. Hollows in the coal country of Appalachia have been left without clean drinking water, and rural communities have been left without hospitals. All of this to meet the greedy demands of large corporations and the cry of conservatives for less government regulation and fewer government services. And yet, under George W. Bush, the government has ballooned to its largest size ever, and the national debt is bigger than the combined debt of all previous administrations. The radically free market has also failed under conservatism. Much post election commentary focuses on the economic crisis as the reason John McCain lost this election, but that is only one aspect of the utter failure that is conservatism. The economic collapse was the result of the failure of the conservative economic policies of low taxes for the wealthy, a promise of trickle down prosperity, deregulation of banks and other industries, and that word we all learned in high school: laissez faire. The economic policies of the conservative movement have basically been a pyramid scheme and the top of the pyramid has now collapsed onto the rest of us. It now falls to Barack Obama to rescue us from the economic madness of the past twenty-eight years. Though John McCain and Sarah Palin called Obama a "socialist," the reality is that George W. Bush is the socialist, nationalizing the banks when it was clear his economic policies had failed. As Ralph Nader says, quoting his father: "Capitalism will always survive because it will always be rescued by socialism." As for the twin wedge issues of abortion and gay marriage, these two are or will soon be off the table. Right wing zealots have used but one strategy to foist their beliefs onto the public: a legal strategy. For decades they have called Democrats "baby killers" because Democrats did not want to criminalize abortion, and done every despicable thing they could to keep Republicans in the White House so they could (supposedly) overturn Roe V. Wade. Republicans have had the White House and Congress for six solid years and done nothing to reduce the number of abortions in this country. Roe V. Wade was not overturned during the two terms of Reagan, the one term of Bush I, or the two terms of Bush II. Instead of trying to reduce the number of abortions with policies to help desperate women, to reduce poverty, to give couples access to birth control and family planning information, they cut services to these people and the rate of abortion went up. Abortion is here to stay, and all because conservatives chose the wrong strategy, a strategy that, instead of addressing the plight of desperate pregnant women, focused only on the fetus, a strategy that sought to impose a total legal ban rather than attempt to reduce the number of abortions, a strategy that put theology over practicality and democracy, a strategy that refused to compromise, refused to find common ground, refused to be reasonable, a strategy cooked up by bishops and priests who have no understanding of nor empathy for women, and evangelical preachers who are praying for the end of the world. This isn't how things get done in America, whatever you may think of abortion. One begins to suspect abortion was simply a political issue used year after year to elect Republican candidates, not something the right was determined to actually do something about. So now that Republicans have made such a mess of things, a Democrat has been elected and Roe V. Wade is safe. It is likely that Obama will appoint three to four liberal Supreme Court justices, which will preserve Roe for another generation. Then he will do all he can to reduce the number of abortions with the kind of help to mothers and families that Republicans always veto. Isn't it ironic that it may be a pro-choice president who actually reduces the number of abortions in this country? As for gay marriage and the fact that Proposition 8, the ban on gay marriage, was passed in California, this will not be a winning issue for Republicans. Barack Obama will be the type of leader who will bring people together and find an answer to this clash between the forces for justice and equality and the forces for "tradition." And the tolerant, open-minded, young proponents for justice, who formed the backbone of the volunteer force for Obama, will ultimately prevail in this fight and America will move forward. The conservative movement is in disarray right now. The talk shows are already attacking Obama out of desperation, while conservative ideologues are holding planning sessions to decide which direction the crippled party should take. Some believe the future of the Republican Party is to become more moderate. But the loudest voices seem to be looking to Sarah Palin to lead the party out of the wilderness. If that is so, it will be a long time in the wilderness. Sarah Palin represents the white, uneducated, older, intolerant, militaristic, ultra conservative, theocratic, irrational and anti-scientific "base" of the Republican Party. As such she represents every demographic that is shrinking in this country. Soon, whites will be a minority in this country, outnumbered by a combination of African Americans, Latino Americans, and Asian Americans. These three groups voted for Obama. Soon, the nation will have more college educated citizens than non-college educated ones. College educated voters chose Obama. The majority of every age group voted for Obama, except for those over 65. Every election, there are fewer people born before 1943. The majority of people turned against the Iraq War three years ago, and want a period of peace. These voters chose Obama. Liberal democrats and moderate independents voted for Obama and rejected ideological conservatism, especially its economic policies. The people voted for a return to their progressive roots. Evangelicals, Catholics, Jews, and secularists voted for Obama. There will be no more flirtation with theocracy, as voters chose to move away from the union of church and state so longed for by radical preachers and their rapture-ready followers. As for the irrational, anti-scientific crowd, they are truly in the minority. Environmentalists and scientists joined with religious people who believe in science to elect Barack Obama. They are serious about stopping climate change and using stem cells to cure terrible diseases. Sarah Palin's assertion that man has not caused climate change was soundly rejected by the people, most of whom are far more intelligent and therefore far more qualified to hold the job she so desperately wanted. I don't worry too much about where the Republican Party goes from here. If they continue to champion the policies that lost them the White House, they will continue to lose. If they embrace Sarah Palin, they will embrace her alone, because the majority of the American people have rejected her. The American people may be slow learners, but eventually they – and democracy – get it right. Barack Obama is the right man for the right time. He has the stuff of greatness. And he is going to take the country in the direction it wants to go - unlike George W. Bush, who led the country into the wilderness, because it was what he alone wanted. If the remnants of the Republican Party really believe in "Country First" they will hope for the success of the new president in fixing the mess they left behind. If all they care about is power, they will gripe and whine and smear and plot his demise for the next four years. It will be a waste of their time, however, because for now, conservatism is dead. Along with the all-white presidency, and the cult of the ignorant leader, it was defeated on November 4, 2008. All content © 2005 outragedcitizen.com |