Video
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Glorious Morning in America
Wednesday the sun came up and I was happy. It is still morning in America. The candidate I voted for did not win, but I got to vote in a free and fair election. Power will be passed peacefully and the Constitution is intact.
We should never take that for granted.
The United States of America is still a marvelous place to live. People suffering in the Sudan would trade our worst day, economically speaking, for their best. Citizens in more prosperous China do not have the chance to throw the rascals out.
The sun is not setting on the American experiment. It is still rising, because there is still work to be done expanding the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all citizens.
It is glorious that an African-American has been elected President of the United States. Slavery was the original sin of the Republic and racism remains the bitter experience of too many Americans. The election of Barack Obama will not end racism in the United States, but it is a positive, symbolic step forward.
Each one of these steps brings us further to Dr. King's dream of a society where men and women are judged on the content of their character and not on race.
President-elect Obama will soon be my head of state. I will pray for him daily and for his success. He is my president and it is my duty to do so.
In our system, President-elect Obama is also the head of government. In those terms, I am part of the loyal opposition. I will support President Obama when his policies are sound and give forceful reasons to oppose them if they lurch to the left. A loyal opposition is always hopeful that the Other Party will govern better than they have promised--the real world often tempers messianic dreams, but is ready to quip and quarrel if not.
The battle for the right to life for all God's children will continue as will our defense of the family. We should ignore the temptation to read too much into elections. Pundits get paid to pontificate, yet they lack the anointing of pontiffs let alone of prophets.
Here is a rule of thumb: a party in charge during an economic meltdown and an unpopular war is finished. It is a sign of how center right the country really is, and the risk that the Democratic Party took in nominating Obama, that the race was as close as it was for so long. The banking crisis finished McCain.
Any analysis beyond that fact is speculation. The wave of anti-Republican sentiment during the "bail out" was so strong that any other tendencies are hard to separate or measure.
I will continue to support a small government just big enough to protect our fundamental rights, but today reminds me that most of life has nothing to do with government.
My family watched the returns with me. We mourned our defeat and then enjoyed time together. My classes in Torrey Honors at Biola will continue to explore the great texts of the West and my students will continue to argue well and press me to think harder about my ideas. My parish of Saint Michael will maintain the great tradition of the Western rite liturgy and we will not change our mind on the great moral issues with each passing poll.
Most of life is not government and most Americans put little trust in our "princes."
"It is morning in America," Reagan's commercials famously ran... and for me it is still true. The land has not changed, our history is more glorious than not, and the election of the first African-American to the White House is good.
Besides, the imp and political junkie in me suggests, 2012 is not so far away...
By
John Mark Reynolds
|
November 5, 2008; 8:29 AM ET
Save & Share:
Previous: The Vote Heard Around the World |
Next: Yes, We Can
Posted by: Paganplace | November 5, 2008 4:12 PM
Report Offensive Comment
I'm impressed with these comments, particularly Sparrow4's. It was good she pointed out the arrogance of Mr. Reynolds' party, how stupid it is, and how's it's full of religious nitwits.
Laughing as he lauds the constitution.
I'm sure that taught him some humility.
Posted by: squaticus2319 | November 5, 2008 1:48 PM
Report Offensive Comment
I mean, on where the 'center' is: now that people are done lying and smearing to try and get their guy elected, what ultraconservative followers and those they successfully scared voted for really doesn't make the country more 'right of center' by whatever mathematics you're using Mr. Reynolds.
They are never going to have to take a position about anything involving Ayers serving on the same education board or any alleged Muslimhood of Obama or on tax hikes they'll never experience , or 'infanticide' Obama never supported or on *any* of those things that may have accounted for
a huge percentage of the vote. Obama might have won *Texas* if thirty percent of Texas didn't believe the 'secret Muslim' smears and all the rest.
So, no, I don't think you can claim America is 'right of center,' Mr. Reynolds. Not on the issues we face.
I think this is a time when we find that out. There's a *lot* of work to be done, here, and how we face that is *really* the issue.
Posted by: Paganplace | November 5, 2008 12:37 PM
Report Offensive Comment
And this post seemed *so nice* for a minute, but for the barbs in there.
Frankly, sir, the election was only as 'close' as it was, because of the media's 'horse race' and the GOP's focus on scare tactics. If the Religious Right convinced its own people that Obama is a secretly-Muslim self-styled 'Messiah' with 'terrorist connections,' well, they don't bring the country 'Right Of Center...' They actually divorce themselves from reality entirely.
Frankly, it's time to stop letting the extreme Right tell us what the 'center' is.
The 'center' is an abstract idea, not a total arbiter of every single individual issue with one good and the other 'evil'
The center in America is determined by, err, where the center falls. :)
Posted by: Paganplace | November 5, 2008 12:26 PM
Report Offensive Comment
McCain ran an immoral and deceitful campaign. How can the Republican Party churn out such lies and slander, and then suddenly, take it all back?
I am sad at your wistful and melancholy attitude, that you cannot experience the jubilation and elation, of this, our greatest moment since the Civil War. In a way, this is the conclusion to the Civil War, the cleariing away of the remaining, rotting carcasses.
But to you, it is a little sad.
MMMMMM.
Posted by: DanielintheLionsDen | November 5, 2008 9:19 AM
Report Offensive Comment
ah well- typical. take no responsibility for why your man and his party lost the election. It's always the issue you couldn't control. the mood of the voters. 2012 (lets plan how to best hurt the new administration and make them ineffective so we can win again in 2012).
It wasn't just the economy- it was the stupidity of your party, the arrogance, the fear mongering, the shoving of religious nitwits down our throats who think they can override the constitution. I had a nice laugh as you lauded the constitution. Maybe instead of rewriting it to exclude certain groups or hijack their rights, you should just reread it and decide to live under it.
2012? with your attitude? Not a chance.
Posted by: sparrow4 | November 5, 2008 9:11 AM
Report Offensive Comment
The comments to this entry are closed.
It's kind of like with the Bush policies in the last two elections: when someone polled people on which position they would prefer to have pursued, his or his opponent's, if the facts were as independent sources presented them, actually, the 'liberal' ones were favored. The 'conservative' voters in fact believed Bush would *give* them these things, and that his opponents were about something else.
That doesn't mean the nation's 'right of center,' it just means people bought into certain labels.