Posted by
Kevin Herrick on Wednesday, November 05, 2008 3:29:00 PM
I woke up this morning in what I thought was a new America, but things were strangely familiar. The Sun did come up. It is still Fall, even here in Florida.I went to work. In other words this is still America. Sure there has been a sweeping "change" (I now hate that word!).We who supported John McCain are just realizing the full ramifications of what his loss will mean. Much of what we have been warning about will happen. To the victors go the spoils. That is life. That is Politics. We were the victors in 2000. We squandered our victory.
The difference between the Democrats loss in 2000 and our loss in 2008 will lie in how we react. Conservatives are by nature optomistic. That does not mean we can't get down, feel sad, even depressed at our loss. We DID loose afterall, BUT because we are conservatives WE have not been defeated.We did not loose because of our principals, the campaign was NOT about our principals. We must not react as the Liberals did. They seethed, festered with hate, whined, cried, charged they were robed and believed it.They developed Bush derangement syndrome. They opposed everything Bush did including the defense of our Country after 911 because Bush proposed it. This is how Liberals react at loss. This is NOT our way!
We have a right to be sad. To be concerned about the future.We must not react as they did. We lost. To react as they did in 2000 and 2004 and since would mean they really did win. To react like them would mean we not only lost the election but were defeated. I know I was not defeated yesterday. I know many of you feel the same.So what do we do now?
I certainly do not pretend to have THE answer but I do have thoughts on what we should do now:
1) We must take stock of what has really happeened, cut through the emotions, the rhetoric, the fears etc and look at the reality.
2) We will learn a lot in the next 24-48 hours and certainly the next week of what the reality is so we can rationally decide what we should do.
3) Don't do anything until you scout the territory and know the "enemy." We all have made a lot of suppositions and charges during the campaign. Most MAY turn out to be true, some may or may not have been natural exagerations of issues that occur in every election. Once we see just what Obama really wants and how he goes about putting pieces in place of his administration then we can react.
4)Plan of Action. Once we evaluate the true reality and cut through the hype, and rhetoric and campaign promises of Obama we then need an Action Plan. What can we do and how to do it. What are you talkin bout, Herrick? We KNOW Obama. We heard what he wants, Why we need to do somethin! anything! c'mon, lets do it!! Do what? throw pebbles? Name call like the Liberals? Whine? Threaten? Great idea and I assure you you will loose again in 2010 and 2012 as we did in 2006 and 2008.
3) Leadership. Either someone from the ranks must step up, like Newt did in the 90's or we must find someone capable of providing real leadership. We controlled the Presidency and Congress till 2006 but Conservatism had no real leader calling the shots.
4) Part of what we can and should do includes but is not limited to what we all did for the Amnesty, Drilling and Bailout Bills. We need to keep the White House and Congressional switchboards swamped with calls about every piece of legislation, about every proposal.Same with emails and letters.
5) Thank God we can still use the Filibuster in the Senate. I predicted Dems would get 54-56 seats. They got 56. We will at least sometimes be able to block really bad Bills like the un-fairness doctrine. Here is where leaderdhoip in the House and Senate is more important now.
I have gone on enough. There is so much more to write about. I am sure between us all we will cover everything in side and out many times over. The point of this Post is that all is not lost. We will prevail. Conservatism is not dead. America WILL survive, they will NOT be able to destroy her! and 2010 is only two years off.
We must be optomistic. We must control our emotions so we can control OUR destiny, not them. We must Act not just react. We must stand for our principals and not give in where it counts but we also must be realists not ideologues. Opposition for the sake of being obstinate will get us no where.
This evening I plan to e-mail my Congressman, Gus Billirakis a Conservative Republican in Florida who thank God was re-elected and congratulate him then ask him just what HE plans to do to lead on Drilling, opposition to un-fairness doctrine, and all the other issues we hold important and to be a part in finding that Leader or leaders our movement needs to retake Congress. A very very small start but at least a positive ACTION. As I said before, my Party suffered a loss but I and WE have not been defeated! We will carry on. We will regroup and end up stronger and more disciplined more true to our principals. I would like to thank everyone I have met here since I started this Blog in July (seems like 4 years not 4 months ago!) for being Great Americans. I am proud to call you friends including those of you I have disagreed with and have disagreed with me. At least we are not like the Liberals. We can disagree but respect each others opinions and right to disagree. It is people like you all that keep me optomistic about our movement and the future of America. God Bless you all and God Bless America!