It's time. Actually, it's long past time. We have come to a point in our nation's history when the things that unite us by far outnumber the things that divide us and it's time we all start to act like it. What matters isn't the letter we ascribe next to our name, or the names of the candidates we vote for. Whether you consider yourself a Democrat, a Republican or an Independent, we must recall that first and foremost we are Americans, and what we do and who we elect should all reflect the fact that our country's best interests should be placed first.
I despise socialism and I'm not afraid to say it. Socialism is just one small step away from fascism, and either equal a centralized government that controls our lives in every meaningful way. The Democrat Party of 2006 is unabashedly socialist based solely on party platform: strict regulation of the economy, exorbitantly high income taxes, redundant taxes on estates and death, socialized medicine, etc. The list is long. The Republican Party stood in the past for all of our founding ideals: limited government, equality for all, low taxes, freedom. The list is long. But the Republican Party of 2006 has abandoned its first principles and was deservedly swept out of office.
I've written before about the crossroads we stand at. The ironfisted two-party rule that we're stuck with is leading us down a path to chaos, anarchy and immorality that the overwhelming majority of the American public rejects. Look at the election results. The new wave of "blue-dog" Democrats are all avowed conservatives. Bob Casey, Jr., Heath Shuler, etc. These principled men and women ran on platform planks straight out of the Reagan-Republican handbook: pro-life; pro-Second Amendment; pro-military; anti-tax; etc. The list is long. At the end of the day, the conservative American electorate actually pushed the nation a large, strong step to the right. Out are many socialist liberals who yearn for abortion on demand, higher income taxes, socialized medicine, etc. Out are many RINO Republicans who spoke of conservative ideals and voted for big government liberalism. The American electorate had the opportunity to choose candidates who transcended the party they belonged to, and the American electorate responded as they always do. With principle.
Yes, the time has come for us to embrace our Americanism. We can't be beholden to political party any longer. The stakes are too high for us to be so blinded as to put party ahead of principle. Had I had the choice, I would've gladly voted for Heath Shuler and many of the other conservative, Reagan Democrats that ran based on principle. You see, principle is in short supply in Washington, DC these days. I hope these new blue-dog Democrats hold firm in principle and shun the liberal catcalls they'll receive from hard-core liberal Nancy Pelosi.
American exceptionalism is something I've written about at great length. We cannot be ashamed that we're living in a blessed land, and we cannot be afraid to project American power to achieve great things in an increasingly dangerous world. No, now more than ever we must use the bully-pulpit as the world's lone superpower to push for great and lasting change. And the way we can do that is to unite as Americans and push our leaders to do the things they have promised us. The beautiful thing about living in a society based on the great ideal of self-government is that we have no one to blame but ourselves if things go badly in our domestic politics. For we have sent to office those men and women who often say one thing to get elected and then do they opposite. We continue to re-elect these scoundrels and then complain when they fool us again. No, as the old saying goes... fool me once shame on thee. But fool me twice and shame on me! We can continue to reap what we have sown or we can take responsibility and push for change. We must set our standards higher.
The American people are a powerful force when we are united. Look to the days after September 11th when the nation circled the wagons. Could anyone doubt that bin Laden and his host of terror masters were terrified, cowering in the caves of Tora Bora at the thought of what was coming their way? But we lost sight of what unity meant and allowed ourselves to be pulled apart by partisan bickering. We must get back to first American principles and say together: Don't tread on me!
So here I am, a strong adherent to the ideals put forth by our Founding Fathers in both our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence, reaching out across the aisle, so to speak. The path to a better day is sitting clearly in front of us. The Democrats on the far left are singing the songs of victory, and let them. They haven't learned the lesson spoken by the American people and they likely never will. The Republicans don't seem to have learned either. They're chirping that the Dems made the election a referendum on the president, and to some degree they're correct. But let's heed the words of President Clinton: "The reason we are at this moment is that they do not represent faithfully the Republicans and the more conservative independents in the country. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here tonight. This is a sweeping, deep, big thing." Clinton was correct. The Republicans broke faith with their conservative roots and because of that the American people punished them, deservedly so. But this was no repudiation of our founding ideals. If anything, it served only to uphold them to levels higher than we have seen since Ronald Reagan was elected to the presidency or in the 1994 Republican Revolution. The American people took the country a strong step to the right on November 7th. In doing so we reminded those who broke faith with us that we will send them to office only if they uphold that which they have campaigned upon. Regardless of Democrat or Republican, we took a step toward healing the partisan divisions between us and we united in a way that other nations can only dream of. We united as Americans.
