On November 19, 1863 Abraham Lincoln stood overlooking the Gettysburg battlefield trying to assess what had been accomplished there. When the smoke cleared, two things were obvious: both armies had suffered overwhelming casualties (over 51,000) and the north had won a great victory. What was not so obvious was how large that victory was and what ultimate effect it would have on the outcome of the war.
147 years later, we stand on a battlefield of a different war trying to assess the results. As the November 2 smoke clears, some things are apparent. With a few exceptions, conservative candidates won a sweeping victory. Republicans won a huge majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and sliced deeply into the Democrat’s majority in the U.S. Senate greatly reducing the power of the liberals in that body.
The victory in the state elections was even larger. Conservatives gained over 600 seats in state legislatures across the nation delivering them power they haven’t enjoyed in state capitols for decades. Republicans even won control of the North Carolina legislature, a feat not accomplished since 1870. Even more, conservatives won numerous gubernatorial races handing the reigns of government in a majority of states to conservative governors. In Oklahoma conservatives made a clean sweep of statewide offices. This win was huge and in a year of state redistricting due to the 2010 census, this election can have even farther-reaching effects.
Pundits are still trying to figure out why Democrats lost so big. Pres. Obama says the election was about the economy but I’m convinced Americans were attempting to put the kibosh on his socialist agenda. No doubt, Americans are mad about the economy but what upsets them even more is Obama’s plan to replace our republican form of government with European socialism. In large numbers, Americans declared, “Not on our watch!”
So now that we’ve won major gains and slowed down the progressives, what do we do now? One thing we don’t do is go back to sleep thinking we’ve won the war. The war isn’t over; Nov 2 was just one battle in that war. It has taken us generations to get into this mess and it’ll probably take us generations to get out. Second, we don’t let the Republicans think that we voted for them. Our vote was less a vote for Republicans and more a vote for conservatism. If those we elected don’t govern as conservatives, they need to know that we’ll throw them out as quickly and as easily as we put them in.
Here’s what we must do:
First, we must turn up the heat and hold our representatives’ feet to the fire. We must make them understand that they are our representatives and they work for us. The days of business as usual and “good ole boy politics” are gone.
Second, we must insist that our Washington delegation roll back and defund the junk the Dems have shoved down our throats the past few years.
Third, we must demand that our state legislature stop playing politics within the Republican Party and represent the people of Oklahoma; the primary task we sent them there to do.
Fourth, we must call on our state legislature to build a wall around Oklahoma to protect us from an overreaching federal government. They must be willing to neutralize legislation like “Obamacare” using the process of nullification by passing laws that nullify federal laws we don’t think are Constitutional so they won’t be forced on Oklahoma.
Fifth, we must continue to educate people about the “true” history of our nation and keep them informed about current issues. To do this, we must enlarge our networks to involve ever increasing numbers of people.
Sixth, we must take the initiative to groom true conservatives to run for local, county, state, and national offices. We can’t allow establishment politicians to perpetuate their system at our expense while we trust them to do what’s best for us.
Seventh, last but not least, we must clean up our own houses before we can hope to clean up our state/nation. America needs a spiritual renewal. Benjamin Franklin, quite possibly the least spiritual of our founders, once said, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” On October 11, 1798, John Adams said, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
If we are faithful to do these things, the vote of November 2, 2010 will serve as the opening shot in a “New war of Independence” which will enable America, to quote Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, “to have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
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