First Principles

I once believed that, while I didn’t like pretty much any of Barack Obama’s policies, that I would be glad if he was the nominee.  If he was elected, he seemed like a guy I could get behind, root for, and like.  A guy I’d be happy to be the loyal opposition to.  A guy you could trust to put his country first, even when I differed on just how to go about doing that.  He seemed moderate.  He seemed reasonable.

It now seems clear to me that I was very, very wrong.

Obama hasn’t a bi-partisan bone in his body.  There is no promise he won’t break or friend he won’t throw under the bus in the name of political expediency.  He is comfortable around some of the most hate-filled, racist, and anti-American people in the nation.  His grasp of economics, history, national defense, running a business, and Constitutional Law are at the level of a college sophomore know-it-all hippy.  Neither the communities he “organized,” the city he represented in Springfield, nor the state he currently hails from is demonstrably better off for his representation or actions.  His campaign has been dishonest, cloistered, and rife with corruption and opaqueness, most especially when it comes to the basic question of where he gets his money.  He will force me to be “charitable” with my money, when he couldn’t be persuaded to part with very much of his own.  He really believes his own semi-deity hype.  He is Jimmy Carter without the principles or the experience.

But while I believe the world will be worse off for his presence in the Oval Office than if McCain miraculously pulls it off tomorrow, there are still reasons for hope.  Here are just a few.

1.  I (and other conservatives) won’t have to carry water for liberal policies.

It’s hard to be full-throated against liberal, big-government, anti-federalist policies when they come from a President from your own party.  It’s hard to complain about socialism when the two parties are both OK with it, but only differ on the degree.  It’s hard to fight wasteful spending when Republicans are the ones passing the pork around – it’s not like you can vote for the opposition party, who you know will only spend more.

So you’re left defending actions taken contrary to your political philosophy because a) they’re marginally better than the other guys’, and b) because it’s our team, damn it!  And if you criticize, you are accused of anything from apostasy to “seeking comity with hippies.”  Worse than that, said hippies think you just might be coming around to their way of thinking.

And when those liberal policies fail, they are joined with the “R” brand and called “conservative,” which means they need to be replaced with liberal policies, of course!  And once those liberal programs are in place, it’s very tough to remove them.  The country moves farther left, and tends to stay there.

Being in the opposition allows a robust defense of liberalism, and the chance to incubate some conservative thinkers and politicians who just might actually carry that philosophy with them into office.

2.  We will never again have to tolerate people declaring my nation a racist one.

The United States, like every nation on earth, has a racist past.  Unlike every other nation on earth, ours was born with a political philosophy that could not tolerate such racism and survive.  So slowly but inexorably, we chose “all men are created equal” over “3/5ths of a person”.

But the problem with fully accepting one’s own humanity and acknowledging the existence of the natural rights necessarily means you also have to take responsibility for you own life.  That can be hard and frustrating.  It’s soooooo much easier to blame other people for your misery than to actually take any steps to extract yourself from it.

And if you can tell people their problems aren’t their own, that’s seductive.  If you can convince them that you can solve their problems and make life fair, then you stand poised to make a healthy career out of this exploitation.  There is great profit in the politics of the Cult of the Victim.

But not if Obama wins tomorrow.  If he is the President, the next person who assails my country as one still in the grips of unrelenting racism, which is solely to blame for the fact that black Americans tend to be much worse off than whites, just better stand outside of my kicking distance.  If he is elected, will any excuse for personal failure that blames skin tone stand up to scrutiny?  Not for most Americans.

Ironically, an Obama victory will strike a savage blow against identity politics.  It will never disappear, but its power will be diminished among all but the most brain dead, ivory tower academics who still sneer at Middle America.

3.  Democrats might just have to grow up.

Things are different when the buck stops with you.  The real world can be a real shot of cold water in your face.

In 1992, Bill Clinton won by campaigning as a centrist, and then threw his rudder back over left full upon his inauguration.  The results were a miserable failure, worsening economic conditions, and a total landslide victory for his political opponents.  Clinton was smart enough to grow up and follow Gingrich’s lead, and the country prospered (for the most part) as a result.

The judiciary still moved left, and Clinton’s weakness as a Commander in Chief led directly to the rise of the Islamists, a Russia falling back into tyranny and imperialism, and genocide that continues to this day in Africa.  He never really, totally grew up.  But the Democrats of the 90s weren’t the hyper-left partisans of today.  And that alone would be a welcome change.

4.  Obama’s lack of experience will hobble him.

Up until now, Obama has never run an organization that didn’t consist entirely of worshipers, disciples, or at the very least, devoted supporters.  He’s never had to compromise with a co-equal branch of government.  He’s never had to live with a tough decision – ever.

He’s in for a rude awakening.

I have no doubt whatsoever that Obama will put his leftward rudder over all the way to the stops – and then he’ll twist the engines to get over even faster.  His support from people who thought his presidency would be all about cutting taxes, protecting guns, and opportunity for small businesses will be on life support.  Democratic Congressmen from conservative districts will balk.  His hubris will lead where hubris always does.  He will be able to accomplish far less than he thinks he will.

And Joe Biden is right.  Our nation’s enemies will test President Obama.  Obama is very likely to fail that test the first time out.  Let’s hope the death toll is limited when that happens.

But he will be under enormous pressure not to justify his opponent’s fears and accusations that he’s weak.  This might be very dangerous, but if we’re lucky – very lucky – he’ll have learned from initial failures and will go forward.

5.  We don’t have to deal with the fallout of his loss.

I think the polls are over-inflated, and this is a much closer race than the polls are predicting.  That was the case in many of the primaries.

But if you think the left is angry now, wait until they can blame Diebold, racist AmeriKKKa, imagined voter suppression, etc. for the failure of their Messiah.  It will, of course, have nothing to do with Obama’s secret socialism, promise to bankrupt a major industry of at least two key swing states, attacks on question-asking citizens, or bad polling by agencies invested in his victory.

The streets will burn.

Moreover, it seems that if McCain does win, it’s more than possible that he will win the Electoral College without winning the popular vote.  The last thing our country needs is another President elected by lawsuit.

Obama is the odds on favorite to win.  If he does, it will feel legitimate even to those of us who don’t like him, don’t trust him, and didn’t vote for him.  We can quickly get into the role of the loyal opposition without the baggage of never really believing he was legitimately elected (although with ACORN & CO., that temptation will always be there).

6.  Hippies will have to squirm to defend him.

I hate that we may have to endure the smugness of the Kossacks and their fellow travelers tomorrow night.  But as Pat Buchanan correctly noted a couple weeks ago, Obama will either have to appease the nutroots or the nation – he can’t do both.  Obama’s past willingness to throw his allies to the wolves when politics demands it leads me to believe it will be the later.

He will not fill anyone’s gas tank.  He won’t pay anyone’s mortgage.  His supporters are delusional.  They won’t be happy when he can’t fulfill their expectations.

But the middle class will see their taxes go up.  People will lose their jobs – at least, if he follows through with his plan.  He will use the military, and likely recklessly.

It will be interesting to see the lefties justify war, bad economies, and worsening conditions for minorities.

7.  I’ll have plenty of blog fodder.

I won’t be afraid of saying “I told you so.”

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So best of luck to all of us tomorrow.  On November 5th, the sun will still rise in the east.  I still own a firearm and a keyboard.  I’m still endowed by my Creator with certain inalienable rights that I’m ready, willing, and (because of said gun and blog) able to defend.

And another election will be just 4 short years away.