God Bless America

When I got up this morning I wasn't sure if the sun was actually withholding it's warmth from the entire country, or if I was just feeling the pains from last nights results. As a McCain supporter and self-identified conservative, last night should have been really disheartening.

However, I think there are a lot of good things to take away from yesterday's election. Several silver linings to take away from last night's results:

• Yes, Obama killed McCain in electoral votes, but this wasn't the landslide that everyone was hoping for or expecting. The final popular vote totals look to be somewhere in the ballpark of 52% to McCain's 46% or so percent. It doesn't resemble anything close to what Reagan, Nixon, or even Bush I did in the last 40 years alone. When it came to crunch time, undecideds mostly broke for McCain, so a lot of the country isn't completely sold on Oba-mania.
• Democrats did not obtain a filibuster proof majority, and now it's looking like the most they are going to gain is 5 seats. Maybe 6. Coleman pulled out a tough victory over Al Franken (thank goodness) in Minnesota that will probably be contested for the next couple weeks. I would have been more concerned if it were up to 58 seats for the Democrats because there are some pretty moderate GOPers (e.g. Specter in Pennsylvania) that would break ranks often enough to give us some real problems, but with 43 or 44 seats, they can stick together and resist the liberal temptation to run roughshod over the GOP.
• The biggest point of them all - Proposition 8. This might have actually been bigger than the presidency itself because of all the implications for our society. Rather than go the way of Europe and continue to permit the decline of the traditional family, America reaffirmed it's position in a big way by endorsing traditional marriage. Not just in California, but also in Arizona, Florida, and Arkansas. It really would have seemed that with all of the support among the Obama crowd, these measures would have had no chance at passing because of the high Democrat turnout, but it goes to show that this is an issue that's not limited to one party or the other, but concerns everyone. And the voice of the people spoke in a big way by handing down this referendum. I don't have any figures to back this up, but I'm almost positive that we're the only 1st World Western country to come out so strongly for the traditional lifestyle. We are not Europe, and we're not Canada, and for that, I am so deeply grateful.
• I came across this really interesting article through the Townhall website. Here's a really interesting point and should give some comfort to conservatives worried about the unmitigated power held by liberals:

  Those who fear a radical Obama miss the point of the lack of maneuverability of the next president of the United States. Behind the mortgage crisis looms the credit card crisis and the student loan crisis and the car loan crisis. Sweating the credit out of the system will take two years of zero growth or contraction. We won't have a Great Depression because the government will irrigate our economy with money. But we will have stagnation, followed by inflation.
  Obama, as the next president, will take office with unlimited political power but with highly circumscribed practical power. He will be able to pass whatever legislation he wants in Congress, but won't be able to indulge his ideology. He will be faced with constraints at every turn.

• Whatever you have against Obama, there's absolutely no reason in the whole world why we shouldn't feel like we're the most blessed people on this planet to live in this country. 10, 20, 30, 200 years ago, would anyone have ever guessed that we were right on the precipice of electing a black man to be President of the United States of America after all of the opposition that race has faced through the centuries? And as divisive, or as contentious as the debates may have gotten, not one person woke up today wondering if McCain was going to take his supporters and try and usurp the power that he might have thought rightfully belonged to him. The peaceful transfer of power has to be the single greatest blessing of living in a democracry that really works, in spite of whatever flaws there may be. From Andrew Klavan:

  Listen, guys, we just peacefully elected the first black president - that's a beautiful thing, truly. And God be with him - he'll need it. I know it's unsophisticated to say it and so on, but every now and again, we have to remember... we could've been born Saudis or Kenyans or Chinese... but we got unbelievably lucky, unbelievably blessed. When you're born American, every day should be Thanksgiving. So on we go.

I've got some more to say, but I really do think things are going to be just fine. Even with however much we lurch to the left for the next couple of years, or however deep the recession goes because of poor economic policies, we're going to be okay. If ever there was a country who was under the direct care of God's hand, it is ours which will be home to the building up of the New Jerusalem.

Rest assured, the principles that govern conservative ideology, i.e. small government, low taxes, maintaining a strong world presence through tough foreign policy, and the market system are the Right principles. They'll come back on top, even if it takes a little bit of time.

In any case, we have plenty of reasons to feel grateful and optimistic for all that we have and for what lies ahead of us.