Reflections On The Election: Moving Forward

What messages does the recent mid-term election send, and to whom are they sent? The answers seem simple enough on the surface. The principal message was aimed at the Democrats: The majority of the American electorate “does not want to be governed from the Far Left”.

There were other messages to be sure. The election of a Republican to fill Obama’s former Senate seat appears to be the people of Illinois saying to Obama, “Goodbye,…and don’t come back.” So much for favored son status.

But the main message clearly was the reflection of the anger, mistrust, and disappointment the electorate has with the direction of the Obama policies. Much of that anger springs from the perception of having been duped by him in the 2008 presidential election.

There is evidence that in any election of national consequence 30% of the electorate consists of loonies, misfits, and sociopaths slavishly devoted to the Far Left’s promises of a statist nirvana where they are rewarded for their singular lack of talent and ability. That percentage is much higher in California, as was proved by the elections of those clueless twins, Brown and Boxer. Add to this, in 2008, the disgust with the ineffective fiscal and immigration policies – or nonpolicies – of the Bush administration, which drove the mass of voters in the center to buy into the Obama message of Hope and Change. The country thought it was ready for any change. It took Obama less than two years to disabuse the majority of the electorate of that notion.

The mean of the electorate is often said to be center-right. That certainly appeared to be true in the recent election, if not somewhat farther to the right. Remember, the Republicans recently held both houses of Congress and the White House, but lost it all through poor governance. It appears that the electorate, in desperation, is turning back to them principally through the efforts of the Tea Party and similar movements. The challenge now for the Republicans is to accurately take the pulse of the electorate and respond accordingly.

The message appears clear enough, as evidenced by the victories of Marco Rubio and other Reagan-style conservatives. The majority of voting Americans do not want big government, deficit spending, and the proliferation of regulations and bureaucrats. They want jobs, fiscal responsibility from their elected representatives, jobs, small government, jobs, a playing field on which entrepreneurial talents can take the shot at the brass ring, and…,oh yes, jobs.

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