Election Night 2012: Is It 1860 All Over Again?

The Moderate Voice ^ | Nov 6, 2012 | RICK BAYAN

[MinorityRepublican]

We couldn’t have asked for a more portentious finale to a hard-fought presidential campaign. The swirling storm swept up the Atlantic seaboard, emptied its wrath on the Jersey shore, battered lower Manhattan and the southern shore of Long Island, and produced scenes of Old Testament destruction before it veered inland. Any soothsayer worth his sooth would have quaked in fear of its occult meaning.

Coming as it did a week before bitter election, the monster hurricane with the disarming name took our minds off partisan politics for a moment. But make no mistake, America on Election Night 2012 is more sharply divided than at any time since 1860. That year, with the nation already barreling inexorably toward Civil War, election of a moderate anti-slavery Republican named Abraham Lincoln over his Democratic archrival Stephen A. Douglas was enough to break up the Union.

Tonight, no matter whose name flashes on our TV screens when the networks reveal their final projections, we’ll be sliding toward the most contentious era in our history since the last four years — but even more so.

Conservatives hate Obama with a passion generally reserved for the Vietnam-era Jane Fonda. They proclaimed him a socialist, even though his domestic policies would place him slightly to the right of Richard Nixon. During his first term they continually attacked his legitimacy and even his nationality; the Republican majority in the House went out of its way to thwart his every move, even at the expense of the country as a whole. Then, naturally, they blasted him for his lack of accomplishments.

Liberals, for their part, fear that a Romney presidency (and particularly a Ryan vice-presidency, which goes with the package) would propel us even more speedily toward a winner-take-all society — a latter-day Yankee replica of Latin American republics.....

[tgusa]

I stopped when I saw ‘the moderate voice’.

[DJ MacWoW]

Bovine excrement. Tons of it.

[tomkat]

House went out of its way to thwart his every move, even at the expense of the country as a whole

             

< plonk >

[hopespringseternal]

Obama, a moderate? LOL.

Polarized? Yes. And it is only going to get worse.

[redpoll]

We have always been at war with Eastasia.

[Jacquerie]

the Republican majority in the House went out of its way to thwart his every move, even at the expense of the country as a whole.

I don't recall when the President of the United States was granted totalitarian powers. The law-givers in our republic are supposed to reside in Congress. I somehow missed the moment our Congress was delegated the duty to rubber stamp the diktats of Chairman Obama.

The House of Representatives is our last line of peaceful defense. Take the time to contact your rep weekly to let him know you are watching and will not accept subservience to Obama's will.

[Undecided 2012]

can I post?

[gundog]

I hate them so much!

[x]

The Republican majority in the House went out of its way to thwart his every move, even at the expense of the country as a whole. Then, naturally, they blasted him for his lack of accomplishments.

Obama had a Democratic majority for the first two years. They gave him everything he wanted (or rather, he gave them everything they wanted).

After Republicans won the House of Representatives in 2010, it was inevitable that things would change. Concession or opposition were possible courses on both sides.

It was as much within Congress's rights not to rubber stamp whatever Obama wanted as it was within his rights not to accede to all their wishes. A slowdown of legislation after all the laws passed during Obama's first two years wasn't a bad thing.

But I wonder how many people encountering articles and arguments like Bayan's assume that Republicans were thwarting and obstructing Obama throughout his whole term of office, rather than only coming into power in one house of Congress after Obama and the Democrats had had free reign for two years.

[grumpygresh]

This is a time for choosing sides. I don’t have any liberal friends or ‘moderate’ (a moderate is just a liberal that is ashamed of the liberal label) friends anymore. I will however continue to accept liberal customers if it serves my interests. I will also avoid liberal establishments wherever possible.
Conservatives need to form exclusive micro-communities that serve to advance common interests such as self defense, bartering, prepping as well as engaging in political activities and fellowship.
When the SHTF, a power vacuum at the local level could present the opportunity for well organized groups to assume local control. The central government cannot be at all places at all times and will be primarily concerned with protecting its own people and turf in DC and the big cities.

[ohioman]

This is a BS article!