We need to be honest with the public. This election is about them, not us. And we need to treat this election as the first step in retaking the government. We need to say to everyone on Election Day, “Those of you who helped make this a good day, you need to go out and help us finish the job.”…. The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.
- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 10.23.10
There’s no credible way to sort out the aftermath of an election in two days, but there’s one question that seems to be on the tip of many tongues. When will Republicans stop obstructing the President at every turn, accept reality, and do what’s best for the country? When does the Far Right stop whining about how and why they lost and the unfairness of it all and begin talking to Liberals and Democrats in an effort to move America forward?
I’m not saying that Republicans should and must acquiesce to any and all Democratic policy initiatives. Indeed, the role of Loyal Opposition is an important one, and Republicans should accept the reality that this is their role now. They can no longer define “compromise” as “Democrats coming over to Republican views and working together.” That’s not what “majority rules” means.
You lost. Deal with it. The question now is, “What are you going to do next?” Do you continue obstructing the President at every turn? Do you employ your obstreperousness and refusal to compromise to derail progress? Do you insist that every compromise means Democrats coming over to your position before you’ll agree to move forward? Do you prefer to see America (metaphorically) burn rather than see Barack Obama achieve a policy victory? Are you that narrowly self-absorbed? Isn’t about time you admitted that the majority of Americans don’t share your views. And isn’t it about time you rejoined the reality-based community?
Here are a few realities that you’ll find inconvenient. Truthfully, though, finding a reality inconvenient and/or distasteful does not ipso facto render it null and void.
The tide of opposition to marriage equality has turned. With three states (Maine, Maryland, and Washington) legalizing same-sex marriage and one (Minnesota) declining to define marriage as “one man, one woman” in their constitution, your hatred has a shorter shelf life. The Defense of Marriage Act you’ve held up as your standard is being successfully challenged in the courts. Americans are slowly beginning to realize and understand that unless all are free, NONE are free. It’s time to step back from discrimination and divisiveness, as happened when women got the vote and the Civil Rights Era brought racial equality (at least in the legal and moral sense) to America. Change isn’t easy, but you can either get on the bus or get thrown under it. Your choice.
Like it or not, there will be a Black man in the White House for the next four years. Do you really want to be known as the party of refuge for racists? Do really want to be seen as condoning racism in the pursuit of your agenda? Really? That’s the best you’ve got to offer?
Americans are not going to stand idly by while you craft economic policies designed to benefit your rich supporters at the expense of the vast majority. We will not acquiesce to further subsidizing the 1% to the detriment of the 99%. America should not, and must not, become a two-tiered society, with the lower tier defined as subservient to the interests of the super-wealthy.
Your “Tea Party” is little more than a collection of cranks, racists, and conspiracy theorists who stand for nothing save for burning America down (figuratively speaking, of course). Richard Mourdock, Todd Akin, and Allen West lost. Yes, Michelle Bachmann won, but if you don’t believe that the influence of the Tea Party lies only in its unfocused rage and divisiveness, you aren’t paying attention.
Despite your efforts nationwide to suppress voter turnout, you couldn’t cheat your way to victory. When you recognize that you can’t win on the strength of your ideas, and that your only path to victory lies in cheating and disenfranchising voters, your ideas stink. Period.
You have it within your power to stem the tide of hatred and rage. You can convince your supporters that the time has arrived to find common ground and that Americans need to come together and find solutions to move the country forward. Or do you enjoy being primarily responsible for Congress’ 9% approval rating?
I believe that those of you on the Right side of the political spectrum love America more than you hate Barack Obama, Democrats, and Liberals. Now is your opportunity to prove it and show the country that you can get past angry, rage-filled partisan rhetoric and do what needs to be done. Liberals did it during the eight year Reign of Error © of George W. Bush. We know how you feel; the Bush years were no picnic, but we didn’t spend our time engaging in the sort of hateful divisiveness that seems the province of the Rabid Right these days.
So what’s it going to be?
Or do you really believe so strongly that compromise is a sign of moral weakness that you’d happily let America burn before you’d admit defeat?
