None of what I have written below is inevitable. The dye is being cast, but it is not mandatory that it be followed. Patriotic Americans must take some time to seriously reflect on the results of this past election. It is time to stop pointing fingers elsewhere. If we are to save what is good about the greatest nation on earth, a serious amount of personal introspection is required. Throughout my long life, one of my greatest strengths, and greatest weaknesses, has been that I believe deeply in the good that exists in the hearts of the free American people. I have struggled mightily to understand how good, honest, caring, people could cast enough ballots to get the results we got on November 8th.
One might think it impossible for a force, in this case political, to imperil the greatest Republic in the world. It is unthinkable that the beacon of freedom and prosperity in the world could be reduced to the level of a third world country. How did it happen that its people would allow their government to take away their rights and freedoms, reducing them to little more than servants? It has been a long process. How do we define our nation if it doesn’t have borders? How can we trust our government when it lies to us, takes away our freedoms, and spends us into poverty? Are the American people in favor of hiring 87,000 new IRS agents instead of more Border Patrol Agents? This last election moved us closer to the goal of those who hate our country. It put yet another nail in the coffin of our Republic. It did not lower us into the grave.
Between 70 and 80% of those Americans polled said they believe our country is headed in the wrong direction. We can argue all day about whether Republicans nominated great candidates. In some cases they certainly did not. In that Democrats control all 3 of the seats of power in our government, it is not arguable that we reelected those largely responsible for our being on the wrong track. Further, polling said that the economy, high gasoline prices, and inflation, were our top three concerns going into the election. Polling also suggested that the majority of us felt that Republicans were best suited to handle our economic problems. Yet we returned most of the Democrats to office. None of that makes any sense in a rational world. Certainly a well informed, non ideological electorate would not have been so derelict. That is not the world we find ourselves in. We live in a politically polarized world. Rational thinking is dying a slow death.
There has never been a more important time for every American who loves freedom, liberty, and their country, to do some very serious introspection. We must stop listening to those who tell us things like, a vote for either party will mean the end of democracy in our country. We know better. Do we really believe that Republicans want to get rid of Social Security? A few might. The vast majority don’t. Do Democrats want pornography in our elementary schools? A few might. The vast majority don’t. It is critical for us to ditch the rhetoric and just think for ourselves. It is time for us to stow our political affiliations. We must forget the “R” and the “D” and put our country first. Then we must demand that the people we elect do the same. Neither party is correct all of the time. It is time for us to get involved in our government in a way that most of us have never been involved. We have to stop listening to what our elected representatives tell us they will do and take a hard look at what they have done.
The issue that seems to have carried the day for Democrats was abortion. California, Michigan, and Vermont, all passed legislation allowing abortion on demand throughout the entirety of a pregnancy. Kentucky and Montana voted against legislation restricting abortion. It is my understanding the Montana bill will require medical staffs to permit a baby who survived abortion be allowed to die. (I pray the people who voted to allow this heinous act did so out of ignorance). Abortion is an incredibly serious, highly emotional, topic that deserves level-headed thought and debate. It is, after all, a matter of life and death. When people are asked, do you think women have a right to abortion, the polls say around 60% of us say yes. When the question is amended to say, do you think women should have the right to abortion up to the day of delivery, around 80% of us say no. With the proper amount of discussion and debate legislation could be passed to solve this troubling issue. As it stands, the notion that abortions should be safe, legal, and RARE, has become a joke. If Gandhi was correct when he said: “The true measure of a society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members,” we Americans failed the humanity test on Nov. 8th. For it could be argued there is none more vulnerable than a baby in its mother’s womb.
The way the topic of abortion was portrayed to the public was irresponsible to say the least. That was certainly the case in Michigan. The amendment was sold as simply replacing the precepts of Roe v. Wade. It claimed to be about “reproductive freedom”. Reproductive freedom, at least in Michigan, now goes way beyond abortion. As we will see in the coming months and years, reproductive freedom will morph into the rights of transgenders to receive hormone treatment and sex change operations at any age, without parental consent. Consent is a crucial part of Michigan’s amendment. It will be next to impossible going forward to prosecute a 40 year old male, for instance, who has sex with a 14 year old girl if the child says the sex was consensual. I can’t imagine an informed American electorate would vote to remove parental consent over their minor children. The key word in that sentence is informed. Michiganians proved too lazy, or disinterested, to be informed beyond the emotion of the topic.
As we go forward, it is incumbent on every freedom loving American to become better informed and more involved. It is critical that we spend time with our progeny explaining the many things that make our country unlike any other on earth. To do less will make us complicit in the downfall of our great nation. To do less will rob the freedom and liberty we enjoyed from future generations of Americans. Surely you agree it is worth our effort.
Thank you for reading my blog. If you found it interesting please share it with your friends. Bob
Thanks for helping me start to understand the travesty and irrational aspects of our most recent election. Living in Florida, it was hard to see this coming, Whitmer’s continued reign will keep me from returning to Michigan for at least 4 years.
FYI, I opposed proposition 3 because I believed it was important to have our state legislators have an honest and transparent discussion about abortion and craft a law that would coincide with the majority of Michiganders. Sadly that will not now happen, and I blame Whitmer for that.
The Republicans and conservatives need to start NOW to groom someone to run for governor in 4 years. A change in leadership may be necessary to have that happen, but it needs to be job #1. We need better candidates who are seasoned politicians and serious people. I like Tudor Dixon but she had almost no name recognition. Why did John James run against Stabenow when he was most like going to lose? He ran a good race against Peters. He might have beaten Whitmer. I admire John James greatly and am pleased he’s been elected to be a U.S. Representative, but he would have been an even better governor. I hope good things are in store for him, in the meantime, let’s start a search now for excellent candidates. We need to leave this country better than when we were born, and so far we’re failing.