Dogs are peculiar creatures. They do things in earnest for no apparent reason. They chase their own tails; they bark at other dogs great distances away, or even sometimes at their own echoes; they howl at train whistles and sirens; and they chase cars. What are they thinking? The car chasing thing in particular has always intrigued me. Does the dog think the car is some kind of big animal? If so, why would it chase such a big animal? What does it hope to accomplish? What would it do if it ever caught the car? I don’t think they want to drive. I stopped once to see what a particular dog would do, and it acted like it didn’t know what to do, just kind of stood there.
With the Republican victories in the midterm elections the GOP dog has caught the car they’ve been chasing, the Senate; now, one wonders, what are they going to do with it? This is not like the “Contract with America” Gingrich House takeover during the Clinton administration, or even the Tea Party wave of 2010. Both those victories were run with clear objectives and agendas. This victory is a victory of attrition. Despite what the President and other Democratic truth twisters have paradoxically suggested, this is not a statement by the American people that they want to see things getting done, and certainly not the Democratic agenda. In what universe do voters hoping to see cooperation elect a divided government? Remember when President Obama told Republicans they could come for the ride but they’d have to sit in the back? Well, this election bears witness that Americans are no longer comfortable having Barack Obama driving unchecked, hurtling down the road at breakneck speed with only his crony Harry Reid in the front seat with him. Apparently the voters wanted cooler heads within reach of the brake pedal. It remains to be seen if the Republicans can be those cooler heads.
Lest Republicans get too excited about the wave indicating that the voters are turning to embrace the Republican agenda, it should be recalled that most of the Republicans who ran had no real agenda beyond “We’re not Democrats!”. Republicans are playing the part of the rebound lover… it’s not that she likes you, it’s that she hates him! The perfect storm of vulnerable Democratic seats, disenchanted voters and an unpopular President caused more Democratic voters to stay home than Republican ones. This was not an election that people were so much excited by the prospective GOP candidates as they were angry and disillusioned by the failure of the Democratic ones. Trust me, no one out there is saying Mitch McConnell is exciting, except in comparison to Harry Reid. Here in New York we missed an opportunity to rid ourselves of a truly horrible Governor. Blame is being laid at the feet of a less than enthusiastic electorate, or the overwhelming influence of New York City voters. We can whine all we want about these facts of life, meanwhile Massachusetts and Maryland elected Republican governors. New York voter participation set a record low with New York City at the bottom, so don’t blame the City’s voters; they can’t vote much less. Truth is “Cuomo’s Got to Go” was an insufficient slogan to drive people to vote for Rob Astorino. New York’s default state election results are Democrat. That doesn’t mean a Republican can’t win, but he needs to inspire voters. Banking on the other party’s weakness worked to a certain extent in some red and purple states, but not here in blue New York. Instead of spluttering about lazy voters, and New York City, and fantasizing about an upstate secession, attention should be paid to how to educate and excite voters to win elections you should not lose.
I was interested to find that the idiom “preaching to the choir” originated in the 1970’s. It refers, of course, to spending time proselytizing among those already converted, arguing your positions before those who already agree with you. Now there is some value in that, especially in low turnout elections. Sometimes getting your “choir” to turn out and vote is enough to successfully get elected. The problem is that it’s seldom enough to successfully govern, as Mr. Obama is discovering. Politicians who can resist the urge to have their ego stroked, who can embrace the idea of serving rather than being served, can begin to reach areas unavailable to them in the past. As opposed to preaching to the choir, they need to reach out to the lost in what could be called missionary politics. An evangelist can only speak the truth as he understands it, and while politicians may engage slightly more in bending that truth, both must stick to their core principles, while at the same time not alienating those they are trying to convince. If a politician considers himself a servant to all the people, he will have no enemies list, only undiscovered friends.
IMHO: There are those who see the nation as a collection of disparate groups. If one group benefits then another must be suffering because of it. Government, in their minds, is there to fairly mete out the suffering and the benefits. Of course this comes down to a calculation of numbers. If your income is sufficiently low, benefits will be added to you; if it is sufficiently high, benefits will be taken away. It’s a cold calculation that pretty much leaves out any other factors except the math. Likewise, these calculations extend to winning elections based on math rather than based on principles. And so the nation is divided by this math, and the poverty goes on, chiefly because it makes the math work for the powers that be. But, as Patrick McGoohan implored in The Prisoner “I am not a number… I am a free man!”; these are people, people with hearts and minds, people who have it within them to be convinced of the higher virtues of freedom, goodness, and earned prosperity. Let us not relegate these to the merciless math, lost souls, walking dead; these are free men and fellow citizens. Any political map will demonstrate how the nation divides along urban and rural/suburban lines. The harvest for conservatives is a focused one, reach the cities and you take the nation, you already have the rest. Oh, it won’t be an easy task, there are many obstacles, we don’t send missionaries to Miami Beach; but look at our failing cities and you’ll realize the fields are ripe for harvest if you can show them a principled way of hope. Or I guess we can go home to our comfortable houses in the country, raise our Gadsden flags, preach to the choir, and just hope there’s more of us than there are of them.
Astute observations.
The main difference between dogs (that chase their tails) and politicians (who too often appear to chase their tales) is that dogs are loyal and love you even when you don’t have treats.
As we move away from the past election, we weigh the winners and the losers. Numbers? Numbers worked in some cases where campaign strategies utilizing demographics, population databases, sophisticated software programs and information mining like those used by the Democratic Party in the 2012 presidential campaign that resulted in what should have been an impossible win. Are we further ahead or less behind? The Republican Party declared the victor but will the citizens, those that participated, volunteered enormous time and efforts in the days, months and even years leading up to November be as victorious? If victory means the return of our guaranteed freedoms, less intrusion and a move to restore governance to it’s original intent then yes, we are victorious, but that is doubtful. Indeed, less behind.
There was clearly grassroots efforts that made the difference in many races but like New York’s gubernatorial race, not so much. As I participated in the efforts myself attending rallies, joining groups, running for office, going door to door, displaying my displeasure with current administrations at my home and business, I was clearly not alone in these efforts. But who joined me? Yes plenty and many of those were even more determined than myself but additionally there were those that claim opposition to the very benefits of big government they enjoy. Government employees yelling stop but only after they’ve retired. Union members crying foul but only after their contracts had been settled with rock solid benefits and salary increases. Homeowners that scream stay away when they have subsidized solar panels on their roof. Gun owners demanding their rights are being infringed upon but only after they have been denied purchase after a back-round check. Are we ready to endure what we claim to demand or are we to self righteous?
The only way our promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will ever return to reality is if “We the People” are truly ready to practice what we preach. Self governance means to participate in that process. Self reliance is not the same as self righteous. Greed is found through out our society not just for the rich one percent.
Freedom isn’t free just like true independence won’t be easy. Opportunity is the absolute cure for what we lack in our inner cities and society but involves hard work, dedication and true determination. Prosperity is in the eye of the beholder when measured by needs versus wants. Success will be for all to enjoy but not all will achieve. Are we truly prepared to get what we are asking for?
Your Neighbor
“Missionary Politics” – what a thought! You may have just coined the next great phrase in politics! Loved this post, spot on. When we can figure how to get humble men to run instead of arrogant men, we’ll have a better shot at getting a true public “servant.”
Kevin – Destiny beat me to the punch with her comment. I love that quote! Also, enjoyed Todd’s assessment – but the line in “1776” kept dancing through my mind, “New York abstains, courteously,” when the vote for the Constitution was introduced. With what has happened in our neighbor states to quote you, “We can whine all we want about these facts of life, meanwhile Massachusetts and Maryland elected Republican governors,” Yes, I’m a wee bit jealous, but New York will undoubtedly follow at some point – just a bit slow to really see what’s happening. We the people have begun to stand!