“The power under the constitution will always be in the people. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can and undoubtedly will, be recalled.”

~ George Washington (1787)

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

"I am relieved at the outcome of the election"

I am relieved.

Now that a week has passed, and people have processed things a little, I can admit publicly what I have to date only said to a few close friends.

I am relieved at the outcome of the election.

This is not to say I am pleased. Regardless of what he said while addressing the University of Notre Dame, Barack Obama has amply demonstrated his willingness to ignore the rights of religious entities to exist and to operate—in ways that go well beyond formal acts of worship—according to their founding precepts. His administration has demonstrated its continued intention to “fundamentally transform the United States of America,” as he put it on November 1, by expanding the reach of government.

As the president might say, “make no mistake”: We do not come back from this election, and by “we” I mean America as we have known it; not with the present culture.

At National Review Online, Charles C. W. Cooke writes eloquently of this truth, but where he feels despair, I feel set free. This election has shattered, finally the illusion that if “good conservatives just keep fighting,” somehow “another Reagan” was going to come along and restore the “shining city on a hill”. For too long I have watched friends remain enthralled to the notion that a single man or woman equipped with rhetorical skills, a bit of spine, and right-thinking would be able to resurrect what is remembered by some modern conservatives as a golden age.
Read The Rest. It is well worth your time to do so.