Ten post-election thoughts.
1) Despite the electoral blowout (we'll get to that in a bit), this was a fairly close election. There are two clear options ahead.
The first is for the Democrats to say, "we won, so we don't need to compromise", and for the Republicans to say, "51% isn't a mandate and we won't compromise." This is the expected action but it is also a stupid one. It does nothing but perpetuate the current Washington gridlock.
The second option is for both sides to look at this and say, "gee, the country seems pretty-well split down the middle as to how we should approach things. Of course, this also means both sides of any argument has a large base of support. Let's work together to find solutions that work best for the country."
That second option is what needs to happen. Tip O'Neil was one of the most liberal congressmen ever. Yet, as Speaker of the House, he worked often with several Republican presidents to get shit done -- because that was his job. Representing one's constituents does not mean doing everything you can to block the other side from accomplishing anything. It means making the best deal you can. That means you will sometimes lose. That means you will sometimes get less than you want. That is how the system works.
2) The top two Democrats and top two Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate should immediately announce they will not be running for leadership positions in the new Congress. They have failed in their jobs and have exhibited no leadership whatsoever. Eight new leaders should be installed and given an opportunity to actually lead.
When we mentioned this to a Republican friend, she said that wouldn't be fair because it takes two to tango and the President should also resign in that instance. We disagree. The President was just reelected, so obviously more people approve of his leadership than do not -- or at least prefer it to the Republican nominee. None of the top eight members of Congress faced reelection this year. While the President does indeed need need to exhibit strong leadership in creating a culture of bipartisan collaboration, he needs to do so with a new Congressional leadership team.
3) The Republicans aren't really as conservative as their loudest members would like us to believe.
A party nominates its presidential standard bearer through the primary process. In that process, people who identify themselves as being a member of the party vote, state by state, on who they think should be their party's nominee for President of the United States. Some states have open primaries, where anyone can vote but, for the most part, if you are voting in a Republican primary, you're a Republican. That being the case, by definition, the nominee is the person the most number of Republicans agree with on the issues.
Let's take a look at the last four Republican presidential nominees.
2000, 2004 - George W. Bush. A moderate who beat out a number of more conservative challengers.
2008 - John McCain. A moderate who beat out a number of more conservative challengers.
2012 - Mitt Romney. A Massachusetts Republican, which amounts to damned-near a Democrat, who beat out a number of more conservative challengers.
That's almost twenty years of moderate Republicans beating out more conservative challengers within their own party. While the Bachmans, Palins and Santorums are the loudest, they are clearly the minority not just in the country as a whole but also in the Republican party.
4) If you are moving to Canada because Barack Obama was reelected, you are a jackass. You also apparently know nothing about Canada, where they have universal health care and pay more taxes than the United States. Oh, and there's also no death penalty, eh.
5) The electoral college system as currently constructed is flawed. Going in to Election Day, the President was expected to carry 16 states, while Mitt Romney was expected to carry 23. 11 were up for grabs. The President claimed five of them and it was over. He eventually took more states but could have only won 21 and still been reelected. Basically, the Democrats won the votes where the people live. And that's a problem. They appear to have systematically targeted the specific areas where they needed to win the votes to get to 270 electoral votes. Now, the Republicans did the same thing but just weren't successful.
If a Democrat were to somehow carry Texas, he or she would only need to carry 10 more states in order to be elected President. This is what the electoral map would look like. In such a scenario, the candidate could win the popular vote by a single vote in each of these blue states, while losing the red ones 100% - 0%, resulting in a disparity of as much as 10 Million votes, while still claiming the presidency. While not likely, it is disconcerting to us that such an outcome is even possible.
If all states were to adopt a policy like that of Nebraska, wherein the electoral votes are split, based on the percentage of the popular vote carried, you'd see a whole lot more visits to Laramie and Laredo than you do now. And that could only be a good thing.
6) If you did not vote, shut the hell up for the next four years. You had your chance.
7) To Donald Trump -- go away already, you jackass circus clown. Maybe if you'd have focused on your business entities and not your sideshow carnival act, your management company might not have lost the contract for the building that has your damned name on it! You're fired!
8) People need to dial down the hatred. We voted for Mitt Romney, too. We lost. Such is life. The patriotic thing to do now is not to wish failure upon the guy we didn't vote for. The patriotic thing to do is say we hope we were wrong. We hope the President succeeds and leads us to better times. We hope that in four years, we look back and say, "yeah, that was the right decision." We'd rather be successful as a nation than right personally.
9) Why do we not have instantaneous electronic voting? Can we work on that in time for 2016?
10) Whether your guy won or lost, take a break from your vitriol to appreciate the fact that you love in a country where you get to vote. And try to realize that simply because someone disagrees with you, that doesn't make them an idiot. Now, they may very will be an idiot -- just not because they disagree with you.
Keep the Faith,
-Gary
