So, guess what? I’m disappointed, along with the other 57 million people who voted for Mitt Romney. Even still, disappointment and failure is never an excuse for any of us to give up.
From that first big slug in my gut after my husband was killed in 2001 until this day, the one thing that has kept me grounded is my faith in God and the knowledge that things will get better over time.
Mindboggling is the word that comes to mind when I swallow the fact that a majority — almost 60 million people — voted to affirm the antithesis of America’s Judeo-Christian values and sound economic reform. It is as if people checked their brains at the door prior to pulling the polling booth’s curtain.
The chickens will most certainly be coming home to roost in America, so it sure would be nice if there were a way to protect those of us who voted with all our faculties intact from the looming collateral damage. But it doesn’t work that way. Until the bottom drops out and we become Greece West, we are still America, and Americans do not give up just because times are tough.
Failure is not a bad word -- just as long as it is followed by a comma or semicolon and not a period. History is filled with examples of failure transformed into achievement. The 2012 election should serve as an opportunity for introspection as well as inspiration because conservatives can do better.
One takeaway from Romney’s defeat is we conservatives must invest our time and energy on America’s youth. Analysts say more youth voted in 2012 than in 2008 and Obama was the recipient of more than 60 percent of the youth vote.
While many of us have been preoccupied making big bucks and moving up the corporate ladder, liberalism has wormed its way into our school systems and universities; hence infiltrating our children’s minds. We’ve been too busy for family dinners during the week and no time for worship on the weekend. We’ve sent our kids onto the battlefield unarmed and defenseless. No wonder so many of them voted for Barack Obama.
How easy it is to cast blame on everyone but ourselves when bad things happen. Sure, 60 million people decided to give Obama a second chance, but until conservatives take responsibility for their own missteps, they will never become the better version of themselves America’s children deserve.
I can’t help but wonder had we done our job; maybe the youth would have noted an inconsistency in a president who blatantly betrayed the Christian faith he claims to be part of, when he mandated a plaque with Jesus’ name on it be covered during his Georgetown University speech in 2009.
And they should have at least questioned why a smart Harvard graduate would strategically omit the word “Creator” from the Declaration of Independence in recent years. And if we’d taught them sound economic values like balancing a budget or how to balance a checkbook, maybe they wouldn’t have been so mesmerized by one who uses taxpayer funds like Monopoly money and offers handouts as if they grow on trees on the White House lawn.
Elections have consequences, and we will reap what we sow, so we may as well busy ourselves in the meantime investing in something that will undoubtedly pay off in the future --- our children. The Republican Establishment will say it’s time to go back to the drawing board, but I think we need to go back to the dining room table.
Susan Stamper Brown is an opinion page columnist who writes about politics, the military, the economy and culture. Email Susan at writestamper@gmail.com or her website at susanstamperbrown.com. This column has been edited by the author. Representations of fact and opinions are solely those of the author.
©2012 Susan Stamper Brown Distributed exclusively by
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