Last Tuesday’s election results came as a bitter shock to the half or more of Americans who have suffered through the last 4 years of juvenile, humiliating, and severely damaging rule by President Obama, Harry Reid, and the rest of the radical left elite of today’s Democratic party. As the reality of another 4 years of “more of the same but much worse” sinks in, there’s no shortage of accusations of gross incompetence, voter fraud by the left, and deliberate sabotage of the Republican party from within.
Some of these accusations appear to be founded in fact; for example, three appears to have been a very deliberate effort to misdirect or waylay the delivery and return of military absentee ballots; hundreds of thousands of them vanished from the final count due to deliberate failure of the Obama Defense Department to implement recommended changes to ensure that the votes of those who most deserve to have their choices heard—those who lay their lives on the line to protect our freedom—are fully and fairly counted. There are also many reports of massive voter fraud involving the left “stuffing” voter rolls in some counties with ineligible, illegal alien, or deceased voters in virtually all of the “swing” states. These accusations take on an even more sinister stench when it is recalled that the left has devoted enormous resources to defeat or gut Voter ID laws in every state in the nation that has tried to implement them.
These accusations cast a shameful pall of illegitimacy over the 2012 elections and the second term of this administration. They must be pursued to the fullest extent possible. But this is just one of the causes which fair-minded Americans—led in part by action-minded members of the Tea Party movement—must devote themselves over the next 2 to 4 years.
In addition to the accusations there are a variety of angry and desperate reactions being discussed and weighed by those of us who went all out to support a less-than-ideal candidate because the alternative—today’s reality—was too awful to contemplate. Some are so devastated that they feel compelled to abandon everything this once proud nation stood for and move to another country. Others talk of revolution or prepare for total economic collapse and social chaos. The likelihood of any one of these becoming a viable alternative depends on just how bad things get in the coming years; but in the meantime, it is absolutely vital that we set our emotions aside and focus on a rational assessment of exactly what we as a free people can and must do to make such extreme measures unnecessary.
Toward that end, here are a few possible avenues that this author believes must be pursued (and one that should not) to try to take America back from the dangerous demagogues who have gained power through division and deception. By no stretch of the imagination is it a complete list.
1) Secession. This is one which needs to be put in perspective immediately before too much energy or credibility are lost. It is very tempting to leap into citizen petitions and angry demonstrations calling for heavily Red states to secede from the United States, and in fact the idea sounds very appealing to me as well. Unfortunately the reality is that in the current geopolitical and economic environment, nothing useful can or will come from this effort except to make us look ridiculous to the rest of the nation.
It must be remembered that the United States is not, nor was ever intended to be, a democracy where the people directly vote on any issue. It is a republic, in which we elect representatives to make decisions for us, with the hope and expectation that (a) they will make more level-headed decisions in difficult situations than the masses they represent, and (b) we who elect them will monitor their performance and get rid of any representative who through incompetence or corruption fails to work for our best interests. For that reason, the citizen petitions for secession that are springing up in various states are laboring under the delusion that they will carry some weight in Washington aside from venting our frustration and providing the Obama administration with fodder for ridicule and further suppression. Without the support of our ELECTED representatives in the House and Senate—along with the buy-in and commitment of the relevant state legislatures and governors—our petitions are powerless. Without their support, it will be business as usual in Congress with our representatives calmly engaging in business as usual.
If the people of any state seriously wish to pursue secession, their petitions should be directed first at their state legislatures and federal representatives, because only they can carry that message formally to Washington. But that simply isn’t going to happen unless things get unimaginably worse than they are now. It seems far easier to rally enough of the population of the 50 states—through education and through other measures mentioned below—to elect representatives who will support true conservative principles in Washington and help restore the entire nation to its founding principles. In other words, fight not to abandon America, but to TAKE IT BACK from the socialists and statists who have stolen it from us.
2) Pursue investigation of voter fraud nationwide. The fraud in the 2012 election was, evidence suggests, massive and undisguised. From electronic machines switching votes from Romney to Obama, to voter turnouts exceeding 100% in some heavily Democratic precincts, to lost absentee ballots, to virtual cattle drives of voters of questionable eligibility into polling places by Democratic operatives, to Democratic precincts illegally conducting vote tallies behind closed doors, all the signs are there that fraud has been committed on a scale never before seen at the national level.
It is highly unlikely that the results of any race will be overturned even if fraud allegations are proven through investigation. However, a thorough investigation and publication of these fraudulent practices could potentially make the strongest case ever made for voter ID laws. If done in a professional and investigative manner that appeals to the prevailing sense of “fairness” and avoids the appearance of simple partisan sour grapes, it could gain enough support from the public to force legislative action.
3) Voter ID laws. Once a strengthened case has been made for voter ID laws, legislation must be crafted on a state by state basis which establishes strong defenses against fraud while addressing all possible concerns about possible voter suppression. While most evidence says these concerns are little more than demagoguing by those with a vested interest in continued fraud, they have succeeded in convincing enough of their followers that voter ID is an effort by the “Evil Right” to rob them of their vote to make it difficult or impossible to implement the few bills that do make it into law.
One of the biggest “concerns” raised is that “millions” who do not currently have picture ID’s will be disenfranchised. While patently false, there are surely enough 98 year old voters born out on the wheat fields in Nebraska or in a knot-holed shack in Alabama, or younger adults born to societal dropouts in inner city drug houses, to provide the left with an endless media parade of bureaucratic nightmare stories. To combat these, generous provision must be made in Voter ID legislation to provide for the protection of such individuals.
For example, much has been made of the bureaucratic nightmare of obtaining valid ID for an adult who does not have a valid U.S. birth certificate or immigration documentation. (Never mind that the identical issue exists for those same people when it comes to buying cigarettes or alcohol, obtaining and using a credit card, buying an airline ticket, driving a car, getting married, or receiving government benefits, but for some reason in those cases the issue is a non-issue.) Since it will be the states who pass these ID requirements for voting, it is entirely appropriate that state tax dollars pay for programs to reach these supposedly “forgotten” individuals and help them obtain the necessary ID at no cost to them before the next major election in 2014. These programs must be subject to oversight by independent reviewers to ensure that the fraud does not simply shift from the voting booth to the voter ID dispensary.
4) Other measures to combat fraud. It is important to note that numerous other measures will be needed to combat the kind of fraud already evident in the last elections. For example, in California the government is attempting to further integrate fraud into the system by simply issuing valid driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. This means a simple driver’s license is insufficient. State voter ID cards may be necessary instead. More thorough purging of voter rolls is needed in every state to remove deceased or ineligible voters. Election observers need to maintain a stronger presence to report on incidents of possible fraud as they occur, and election commissions need to be held more accountable for failure to correct such situations.
Even something as simple as “inking” would eliminate a lot of fraud. Many countries simply put an ink mark on the thumb of someone who has voted. The ink wears off on its own, but is difficult enough to remove that an individual casting multiple votes in the same day would be much more difficult. The much maligned UN “election observers” were shocked that the US makes essentially no effort to verify the ID of voters, making us the only free-elections nation in the world not to do so. If the UN—of all organizations—is shocked at our cavalier attitude toward election fraud, what does that say about the situation?
5) Pressure state governors and legislatures to adopt Nullification procedures. It was the intent and understanding of the Founding Fathers that the federal court system—right up to the Supreme Court—was NOT the final word on the constitutionality of a federal law. They understood that in spite of their efforts to guarantee a 3-branch system of checks and balances, it was still possible for a single party to become so powerful that it would dominate all 3. Such is set to become the case with a second Obama term, as the President will likely enjoy the opportunity to replace several retiring Supreme Court Justices, thus stacking the court in favor of progressive and statist philosophy for a generation, regardless of who controls the Legislative and Executive branches.
In the eyes of the Founding Fathers, the states themselves should and must be the final arbiters of the constitutionality of federal laws and—given this President’s predilection for issuing legislation by fiat via the Executive Order—other edicts originating outside of Congress. This was to be done through the Nullification process; if the legislature of a state were to determine that a duly passed federal law was unconstitutional, it would simply not be implemented. (This was made much more difficult by the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, which took the power of electing US Senators away from the state legislatures and redefined the Senate as a publicly elected body.)
This concept has been publicly discussed in a number of states over the past few years, but it needs to be pushed more strongly as the states’ primary defense against the abuses of an out-of-control federal government. The governors of the states—particularly the Republican governors who still represent the majority of states—must be encouraged to band together on the Nullification process, and should understand that while that power should be used sparingly, they should not be afraid to use it when it is justified.
6) Fight to oust liberal and progressive GOP leadership. One of the biggest reasons the Republican Party has failed so badly in the last 8 years is its utter failure to stand for conservative principles. The party power brokers are predominantly statists, globalists, progressives, and liberals who one way or another, wittingly or due to their ignorance, have been working against the will of the majority of Americans and dragging the Republican Party inexorably toward the socialist ideals that they see bringing success to the Democratic Party. Recent comments by John Boehner’s and other “experts” in the GOP make it clear that they no longer (if they ever did) have the stomach or the conviction to pursue conservative principles.
Not only has the current GOP leadership failed to support conservative principles, but they have actually fought to weaken and destroy true conservative leaders, including “Tea Party” favorites who at best have been ignored and left to fight their way into office through sheer public referendum. At worst they have resorted to sabotage and political trickery; such is the case with Colonel Allen West in Florida, whose district was gerrymandered by his own “Republican” party to try to prevent his re-election.
These people must be removed from positions of power in the Republican Party if it is ever to represent American conservatives fairly and honestly. The mantra of conservatives and Romney supporters leading up to the election held that Obama’s clear record of failure compelled us to change the nation’s leadership. Now in the wake of the election we must have the clarity to make the same demands of ourselves. Given the clear record of failure by the Republican leadership to nominate and support strong conservatives and get them into office, do we have the conviction of our principles to sweep that leadership out of power and replace it with new blood and a new formula for success? This cleansing must be pursued at both national and state levels, and perhaps at the local level as well.
7) Push Republican leadership to reaffirm and vigorously support conservative principles. Many pundits and so-called conservative leaders are pointing to the last two elections as clear signs that the Republican Party needs to abandon its traditional conservative principles and “move with the times”. First of all, such suggestions are nothing less than complete capitulation to the left. So-called leaders who suggest such surrender are either cowards with no concept of what principle means, or they are in reality progressives, liberals who wish to simply turn the Republican Party more and more into a lite version of the Democratic Party.
Second, the Republican Party has been trying to play catch-up with the Democratic Party for years already, and where has it brought us? Quite possibly to the brink of extinction. Is the popular definition of insanity not “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”? The left, the liberal GOP establishment, and the extreme left-wing “mainstream media” would love for us to surrender our conservative principles and adopt theirs. To them, that would be total victory.
We did not lose the 2012 elections because we were too conservative. We lost the 2012 election, from a philosophical standpoint, because our party and our candidates no longer stand for what their constituents believe. They have failed to distinguish themselves from the other party enough to drive conservatives to the polls in the overwhelming numbers polls indicate are out there. They have inspired such disinterest in fact that our party can no longer overcome the “free candy” and relentless demonization of the left. This demonization includes horrific portents of right wing fanatics banning everything the left defines as “basic human rights” and establishing a police state in which every American will be forced to burn every book but the Bible and submit to daily prayer sessions in school.
The Establishment candidates do nothing to dispel these fantasy horror flicks. Indeed, many Republicans are unapologetic statists, and might very well try to compel Americans to conform to their personal beliefs as adamantly as the left demands we adhere to theirs. Where is the difference between the two?
This brings us to the question of what conservative principles mean and how they should be upheld. Any study of the colonial history of America and the Constitution make it clear what the Founders intended: that the Constitution be revered as the supreme law of the land, and that chief among the principles of that document is the idea of personal freedom—that the government should never be allowed to interfere in the personal lives of American citizens, nor in the affairs of the individual states. Conservative principles then must be understood by the people to mean liberation of the people, not enslaving them to the beliefs of those who hold office.
The message to the public should not be “No, I do not believe in abortion”, or “We need more teachers”, or “Yes, we need this or that regulation”. The message should be “The federal government has no business telling you how to live your lives. The government’s job is to protect the nation and facilitate free commerce between states. Everything else is handled infinitely better at the state and local level.” Romney actually espoused this philosophy early on in the debate season, but abandoned it in favor of a “me too” approach based apparently on the suicidal advice of those liberal GOP advisors.
Going forward, the conservative message of limited federal government, fiscal responsibility, and personal freedom have to be among the top sellers of the Republican brand. In addition to the wholesale gutting of GOP leadership needed at the highest levels, we must support candidates who truly stand on conservative principles. There’s a reason why in the 2012 elections, so-called “Tea Party favorites” won many of their races while the establishment GOP picks lost so many of theirs.
8) Educate the public about the importance of primary elections. Typically the turnout at primary elections is dismal at best; yet it is precisely here that we wield the greatest power. It is the primaries where we truly have a choice of who is to be the standard bearer for our party. The establishment has its own idea who those standard bearers should be—as we clearly saw with the selections of Bob Dole, George Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney in the last five Presidential campaigns—and those selections were made based not on conservative ideals, but on political patronage and progressive agendas.
We the people make it very easy for the establishment to force its selections on us when we don’t bother to show up to vote in the primaries. A large part of our effort to support conservative candidates must be to educate people about the differences between the candidates and to work tirelessly to get people out to vote in the primaries—and force our will on the Republican party, whether the good-old-boy bosses like it or not.
9) Educate the public, particularly the young. We’ve known for a long time that our public schools are little more than leftist progressive indoctrination camps, and that the brainwashing they receive there is reinforced continuously by the leftist news and entertainment industries. This brainwashing has been so thorough and so successful that many today are saying that from a political point of view, we conservatives may have lost an entire generation that we will never recover.
This may be true, but that should not stop us from trying. If we want to have a fighting chance with today’s and tomorrow’s young, we must ourselves infiltrate the schools and their minds, by education at home, challenging the political messages fed to our children in school, and partnering with other organizations that can help reach children and young adults. We must preserve and communicate our own history the way it really was, not the way it is taught by those who despise our history.
Some of the above are clearly immediate needs; some will take much longer. All will likely lead us through a torturous minefield of liberal backlash, disappointment, and short-term failures, but with perseverance and the conviction of our principles, we just might succeed in restoring America to the pillar of freedom and prosperity she once was.
