November 3, 2004

We have just come through a competitive, relatively close Presidential election.  Pondering the circumstances surrounding the election last night, here are a few thoughts.  Although not meant to be a complete list of concerns, this might be a good start.

In the past four years, the federal government has grown more under Republican leadership than at any other time in history, even factoring out expenses for the war.  Entitlement programs for Medicare, No Child Left Behind, and across the board increases at all levels of the federal government did nothing to prevent this from being a close election.  Liberals and the "angry left" hated the President and the Republicans with an intensity not seen in recent times, in spite of the fact that we funded all of their pet issues and programs in Washington.  We beat a flip flopping, indecisive candidate last night with no distinctive accomplishments in over 20 years of public service - barely.  Lesson learned:  if Democrats, liberals and the "angry left" are going to hate you anyway, why EXPAND government when it doesn't help you politically?   They hate us when we cut spending and hate us when we increase spending.  We might as well start cutting spending now and act like Republicans again in Washington.

No matter where you stand on the issues, there was a HUGE values vote last night on traditional marriage.  While some of the values arguments might not play strongly in California, in "Red America" they are a big factor.  Exit polls showed 68% of the Catholic vote went to Bush and I am sure a similar percentage of evangelical votes went to him as well.  Eleven States passed laws banning gay marriage last night and there was a strong turnout in Ohio for the gay marriage initiative.  Many think this put Bush over the top in this key battleground state.  Bush displays a genuine, personal faith in God that clearly is not a political prop but a guiding light for his decision making.  Kerry, on the other hand, might be a genuine Catholic but he is at odds with the Catholic Church on virtually ever social issue. 

President Bush and both political parties have cowered in fear over the issue of border control, despite strong national security concerns and evidence that our Southern Border has been repeatedly compromised by middle eastern terror cells and radical Chechnyan rebels.  We have taken this position in order to avoid alienating Hispanic Voters, which is just outrageous and actually insulting to all Hispanic people.  Where do we get the notion that Hispanic Americans don't want a safe, secure country like the rest of us?.  We need to make the case for a secure border, fund it, and tighten illegal immigration up NOW.  Our nation's security depends on it.  With the Presidential election now in hand, and with no competitive House seats in the entire Southwest, the political "risks" of securing our borders are minimal. 

President Bush inherited a recession, the 9-11 attacks, the collapse of the NASDAQ and tech industries, and corporate scandals.  We lost 1 million jobs in the first 30 days after 9-11.  Despite demagoguery and outright lies from the left on the economy, the President's bipartisan cuts in tax rates have produced a 5.4% unemployment rate and better economic growth than under Bill Clinton.  And, income tax receipts to the federal government are UP since the tax rate cuts.  With this election decided, further tax rates cuts and a permanent extension of the tax rate cuts previous passed are a top priority of this Congress and Administration. 

CBS and The New York Times have lost all of whatever  journalistic credibility they had due to their biased, false reporting during this election cycle, and their coordination of attacks on the President at crucial times in the campaign.  Conservatives are leveling the information playing field with Cable News, email, the Internet and other sources of information.  The circulation of the top 20 major daily newspapers is slowly dwindling as citizens, particularly young people, get all of their news and information online.  Ratings for network news are at an all time low, and cable news viewer ship is at an all time high.  This trend will continue, and it ultimately favors conservatives as the networks cling to leftward bias in new reporting and the cable channels favor a more balanced approach.