Post-election thoughts

So I just realized that I never posted after the election, and never commented on my thoughts. It's been a little disheartening, a little frustrating, and I've been more than usually cynical about the whole thing, so that's probably why I haven't posted about it. Not to say that I think the world as we know it is going to come to some cataclysmic end now that the process is over and Obama has won. By no means. Being a good ol' Calvinist, I still believe and cling with hope to the fact that God is still sovereign, and these events, though frustrating and discouraging in our eyes, do not take Him by surprise, nor do they rob Him of any of His power. Do I think Obama will be good for our country? Did I want him to win? Of course not. But that doesn't mean that just because he did, I now have to predict gloom and doom for our nation. God is still in control. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are higher than ours. Is that easy to cope with? No way. But it is the most comforting thing I can think of in times like these.

All that being said, though, I'm pretty disenchanted with the whole process and the idea of the American electorate. Our system of government only works if the nation's citizens choose to be informed, educated, and rational voters, but because we have fallen so dismally far from that ideal, the system no longer works the way it was intended to work. We have so many people who go out and cast a ballot without having any idea of what they're voting for. More than that, we have people who vote (or don't vote) for all the wrong reasons. It's a privilege, an honor, and a profound responsibility, but people simply don't see it that way anymore.

How many people think of voting in this way nowadays?

“Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual — or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.” — Samuel Adams, 1781

Or how many people think along these lines before going out to vote?

“When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, “just men who will rule in the fear of God.” The preservation of government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.” — Noah Webster, 1832

If that is not a commentary on where our nation is headed, I don't know what is. Even the so-called conservatives, who have by and large abandoned many of their values, no longer take this idea of voting as seriously as they should. Which is part of the reason why I'm about fed up with calling myself a conservative anymore.

Traditionally, based on the historic definition of the terms, those of us who are unsatisfied with the way our nation is being guided now would all actually be liberals. Conservatives, in the days of Jefferson and Washington, were those who were satisfied with the status quo. They didn’t think anything needed to change. They were the ones crying “God save the King!” instead of “No taxation without representation!” It was Jefferson, Washington, Adams, Franklin, and the rest who were considered the “liberals.” They were the ones who wanted change. Revolution. A new world.

Based on that definition, I think I would now prefer to consider myself a traditional, Thomas Jefferson-liberal. It's time for some real change in our country, not just empty promises from candidates who swear they will turn everything around and then simply step up to the plate with four more years of the same or worse.

How long will it take for America to wake up and realize how far we've fallen?