In an election the media is calling as divisive as politics has ever been, President Barrack Obama secured victory for re-election after his majority in the state of Ohio put him over the top. The deadlocked race could have went either way this election season, with many polls, including Rasmussen, the Pew Research Center and others, predicting completely different outcomes based on poling data.
But what does a second Obama term mean for America and its impending struggle to remain an exceptional superpower? What does it mean for us?
The National Review called it a historic victory for the American far-left. Indeed, an administration criticized by conservatives for appointing a self-proclaimed communist and an admirer of Chairman Mao Zedong to ranking government positions could interpret this narrow win as an approval for their past behavior. These behaviors resulted in policies that have claimed ownership over private companies, a push for “green energy” which resulted in absolutely no net job creation, prolonged unemployment only recently dipping below 8 percent (which peaked at 7 percent during the Bush administration), and unacceptably poor market performance.
More government-created problems also loom on the horizon, the most pertinent being the coming “fiscal cliff” in January, which will result in dramatic tax increases as well as spending cuts unless Congress and the president come to a consensus on how to tackle our budget problems.
Given these issues, you could say the Democratic party practically handed the election to Republicans on a silver platter. Key Democratic voting demographics had little reason to support Obama or his party’s agenda.
In September, The Huffington Post reported Latino unemployment at 10.1 percent, and black unemployment at a staggering 14.1 percent. Both groups overwhelmingly voted to keep the President in power, with 69 percent and 93 percent voting Democratic, respectively. Economic fears took “central stage” this election, according to The Wall Street Journal – Mitt Romney had no excuse for his fellow Republicans.
This election does not change the direction of these policies. But it does give Republicans a much-needed chance to reinvent themselves. There was no reason to lose an election when running against a failing agenda. The party’s platform is criticized by the left for catering to the upper class at the expense of the lower class.
Meanwhile, critics are free to dissect their social policies as anti-minority, anti-women, anti-immigrant and everything else.
They can reverse this by refocusing their rhetoric to explain how small-government conservatism benefits the lower and middle class, and keep capitalism at the center of their agenda. Capitalism is a job-creating philosophy that puts individuals in control of their own lives. This benefits anyone regardless of class.
But against a nation of more than 350 million, there is no place for asking for the Supreme Court to pretend Roe v. Wade never happened, or calling for a Constitutional amendment that defines what loving partners are allowed to call themselves.
Republicans in government would do well for themselves to support the state-based decisions in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington that legalized gay marriage, and explain that state rights are cornerstones of small government conservatism.
Removing religious doctrine from their social agenda and focusing on how capitalism supports economic growth can help them win over demographics they desperately need.