The election is over. The votes have been counted and the American people have spoken. Barack Obama is to be the next President of the United States.
While disappointing (enraging, even), I don’t begrudge the American people their decision. Part of living in a democracy is that oftentimes we make horrifyingly dumb decisions (see Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush in 2004). Besides, if we survived four years of the dippy peanut farmer from Plains and eight years of the illiterate pothead from Crawford, we can survive four (or God forbid eight) years of ‘change we can believe in!!1″
I’ll have more of that over at A. A. Armitage’s Alliterative Allegories, but right now I want to direct my words to the millions of Americans who supported her and are looking forward to 2012.
I am so proud of Sarah Palin today. The grace and aplomb that she showed while under relentless attack by the media should be a template for conservative women. But she never lost that charm, that twinkle that endeared her to people like me: average Americans who needed an alternative to the politics as usual in Washington. No matter how cruelly she was mocked or how viciously she was attacked, or how tactless the assault on her family, she never gave in and never broke down.
This is the kind of woman that America needs. This is the kind of standard-bearer that the Republican party needs if it wants to make a comeback. The defeat of the Republican party, while horrifying, is not surprising. When you turn your backs upon the principles that brought you support and begin to behave like the Democrats, of course you are going to lose. But Sarah Palin never has.
We need a leader who will show the party tough love as Sarah Palin did in Alaska, a leader who will not tolerate abuse of power, will not accomodate those who betray the public trust, and who will not falter in the face of party interests. As we saw with John McCain’s nomination, the candidates needn’t be slaves to the party, but indeed the party should facilitate the candidates and officials’ service to their constituents.
The GOP is a big tent, there’s no doubt about it. But if we adopt the ideals of Sarah Palin, it will be a sound tent as well. There should be no room in this tent for those who abuse the public trust. There should be no room in this tent for officials who use their offices for personal gain. There should be no room for those who abuse the federal earmark process, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on frivolity designed to get them elected. If these people are welcomed into the “big tent” simply because their name has an (R) next to it, then you can count me and others like me out.
So I believe that the subtitle of this blog, “Republicans ascendant in the age of Palin”, can still ring true. If we devote ourselves to the ideals of differentiating between right and wrong, if we dedicate ourselves to doing what is right rather than what is easy and expedient, if we show the American people, rather than tell them, the difference between us and the Democratic Party, we will triumph.
When the difference is obvious, when the choice is clear, the American people overwhelmingly choose conservatives. In 1980 we had Ronald Reagan. In 1994 we had Newt Gingrich. In 2010 and 2012 we will have Palin. It’s up to us to hold our leaders accountable and to shape the party instead of letting the party shape us. If we have learned nothing else from this election, let it be that.