Despite Vote, Last Night Left Me Very Optimistic

While many on the Right may have been, or will soon be bemoaning the death of the American Republic on the heels of last night's heath care vote, I watched it play out, didn't blog too much and came away incredibly optimistic for America in the end. In a word, passion might serve best in summing up all the reasons why. And there are at least a few.

Mainly on Twitter, I watched what we already knew would be the futile resistance as we moved through the night. It was serious, focused and at fever pitch. Polls suggest the majority of Americans also harbor deep concerns over where the now Socialist-Democrat Party is taking us. And like much of their agenda, the health care bill will actually punish the masses while serving the few most closely aligned with the current Socialist-Democrat Party cause.

That lesson may need teaching. But how many working Americans with health insurance would really opt to switch it out for a government run, or controlled program if given the choice? Very few, I'd wager.

Health care, industry, jobs, growth, income and profits, among others, those are issues that matter to Americans. They don't seem to matter very much to the current crew holding court in Washington. And passion, above all else, is what drives elections and produces results.

There are Tea Parties aplenty still taking place. Whether she herself runs, or not, Sarah Palin inspires a great many Americans, with plenty of them not so previously engaged. And we have issues. Ones on which the Right, not the Socialist-Democrats are on the right side of in the hearts and minds of most Americans.

They need to come to understand that, certainly. But there is time for that, too. Time and passion. I predict we will see a huge burst of energy on the Right as we go forward confronting all this. I can imagine activists who previously weren't picking up phones doing so, even working for campaigns - issue, or candidate related. Add contributing money to the mix.

Do we need an idea, or ideas? Perhaps. Though for most Americans, freedom always seems to work. Read that freedom of a personal kind. And with freedom, passion and time, frankly, it's hard for me to see how we can lose.

All things considered, I'd rather be where the Right is just now, than where the Socialist-Democrats are. That's for sure. How can one not be genuinely optimistic given all that? Look forward, don't look back. That's where the future of America is in my view. May it always be the case. And that's what is now unavoidably up to us.

I am an optimist by nature (even when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds), but at the same time I am a hard realist who comprehends the fact that for miracles to work you need to strike the rock! What concerns me is the possibility of a closed loop system. I saw this in effect during the elections that brought BHO into office ...I was in heated debates with a some good FReepers who were claiming he would never be elected because 'all of their family, all of their friends, and all of their work associates' would never vote for him. All well and good, unless you are in a closed loop system. Obviously, there is a strong tendency for your family to possess a highly analogous social and political viewpoint as you, and when it comes to friends socio-economic and political vantages are also immensely affiliated (in some cases could be even more than family, since you choose your friends). As for workmates, it is much looser, but still evident to some degree and scale. Thus, people could see that a certain person has NO chance, when in reality they are only playing in a very small sample sub-set and totally unawares that their sub-set is not replicated in sufficiently large numbers amongst the general population.

Now, I currently believe that Obama has hugely over-stepped the strata that he could control, and things are way out of control. However I believe that he has taken a gambit, and doubled down. The odds are not good for him (there are too many aspects that could sink him ...and each of them has tremendous ramifications ...take for instance if the Chinese ease on their financing of the American economy and way of life). However, he has thrown the die and is now waiting to see how it tumbles. 5 times out of 6 it will settle out of favor for him, and he is through and through. However, what he is hoping for is that 1 time out of 6 ...because if it goes through then the US will finally understand why African countries with so much potential (for instance, my native born Kenya, which I have to say without pride or vanity, has exceedingly intelligent people ....but hopeless leaders) end up in the muck and mire of economic stagnation and socio-economic stratification that could give Brazil and Mexico the heaves! Then the US will realize that the reason it has been the light set on a hill is not because of its geography (places like Russia have far wider, and far richer, geography) or its size (again, the US is not the biggest country) or even its wealth (per capita it is also not the wealthiest) ....but rather in its people, and the freedoms and beauty expressed in the American constitution and rule of law that enables any American to make it big (whatever your definition of big is) through the sweat of ones brow, and the work of ones mind.

As an outsider who lived in your country for 7 years before deciding to leave in 2006 (because I realized I could actually make more money in Africa ....something I doubt I would have done were it the 80s for example), you are at risk of losing your country. Sure, the infrastructure will all look the same, the neighbors still the same Smiths' and Jones' that you love or hate, the local Walgreens still stocked with nail polish remover and Propecia, but the soul will have changed.

Americans need to fight for America.

I am optimistic that Obama has bitten off far more than he could ever chew (at least with any degree of efficacy), but then again being president does give one some get-out-of-jail cards! We should all be optimistic, but ya'll need to fight for your country because if you don't you will lose it.

By the way, Hitler once played a major gambit as well ...far greater than Obama's, and far more treacherous (such as der Reichstagsbrand, more commonly known as the Reichstag fire). There is precedence of major gambits paying off, and right now Mr Obama has little to lose and everything to gain.

Be optimistic, but work hard to ensure that your voices are always heard, and your talking points cogent and well informed.

I once told an ex I was breaking up with that when an issue first comes up in a relationship it is easy to fix it. If one waits and doesn't tackle it, it can still be fixed but it gets a tad harder. Then you wait some more, and what would have been an easy matter to resolve becomes a really complex and convoluted issue. Then finally, there reaches a stage that no matter what you do its resolution is beyond your faculties and abilities. In the same way, there is a time whereby even pointed talk can sort out stuff. Then there is a time when only heated mass debate will work. Then only when mass action will work. Then only an entire party shutting down government (e.g. the Republican party, which in my opinion is merely the right wing faction of the Democratic Party, shutting down Government business). Then comes a time when things have gone too far and what was once One Great Nation is now two much smaller schismatic echoes of something that was once big and once great. Some here are waiting for the coming 'civil war,' but when that hits there will only be relative winners and relative losers. There is still time to stop that, and if Republican party leaders could TRULY STAND UP it could be done. However, as I mentioned, I have more faith in the conviction of the Democratic party than in the resolution of the Republican party ...it is just that the Democrats are either too stupid, or too evil, or maybe some nebulous mix of the two.

Fight their ideas with your ideas. Get a better narrative than the one you have (during the elections I knew the Republicans would lose when I realized McCain, and even Palin then, had no narrative. Lose the narrative, lose the fight).

I wish you all the best. My time in the US was truly a blessing, and your country (and I travel a LOT) is truly the greatest nation in the world. However, greatness is a marker that needs to be constantly maintained.

I hope ya'll do so, because out there is a morass of amorphous inky blackness that seeks to overwhelm your nation, a sticky darkness that spots the mind and soul. It has already captured your youth (i.e. the nonchalance of young Americans is interesting, and the lack of desire to know anything beyond their immediate physical, intellectual and cognitive surroundings, as well as major political apathy). Even on our side it seems some are confused between what is important and what only looks important ...an important tool of any enemy is obfuscation, and there has been a lot of misdirection.

Anyways, all the best!

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Wolverines!