As I begin to collect my thoughts about this past Tuesday, I speculate about what will happen over the coming six years. I wonder if change will be made in significant ways, if we can turn back to the tide of government spending and control, and if we can continue to stop the most insidious ideas of a Washington elite, e.g. "cap-and-trade". Currently, the outlook is positive, but will the message of voters ring true in Washington or will a compromise that reeks of outright concession be unavoidable?
With so much campaign rhetoric still circulating, I find myself ruminating on two ideas. As Frederick Douglass pointed out on July 5, 1852, the belief in the America that our Founding Fathers envisioned seems antithetical with the pragmatic approach that seems to underlie every political player's ideology and make us weak against our selfish desires. Our imperfectability has encouraged us to unreservedly support candidates of instant gratification, both Democrat and Republican. "The ideologues who promise the perfection of man [Hope] and society [Change] have converted a great part of the twentieth-century world into a terrestrial hell." Right on, Russell Kirk. Certainly, the coming couple of years will be an exacting test of the ability of the newly elect as statesmen and as defenders of their political beliefs.
Tuesday was a victory for Republicans, but it carries a different message from years past. True, limited government and reduced spending have not been a priority for the Obama administration. However, these things weren’t exactly the hallmark of the Bush administration either. It is time that we as a nation sit down as adults and have a serious conversation about the direction of our nation, our issue with spending (both personally and as a state), and how we will get out of this deficit. I guarantee that the only way out is the old-fashioned way: cutting costs and saving.
Indeed, I hope that the Commonwealth of Kentucky will continue to move forward in the direction of limited government and greater liberty. Unfortunately, history reveals a trend towards the creation and expansion of government programs to solve our problems, and thus a weakening of our inalienable rights. "We must believe in ourselves and not believe that somehow some benevolent leader in a distant capital will take care of us, will save us from ourselves." I agree with you, Rand. The American spirit truly is that of individualism; but in a society seemingly bent on involuntary collectivism, can we curtail the trend?