[Belated] Post-Election thoughts

I am writing this now because I would probably later regret not capturing my thoughts about such an historic election before they are trampled into dust by time marching on. I am pleased with the result as many are but not because I expect Mr. Obama to affect any dramatic changes himself. The current state of the economy is his inheritance, and it will most likely drag him down despite his best attempts to rectify it. He may even be labelled a failure if he is unable to fix a problem that is probably too vast for anyone to tackle alone. Of course, on the other hand, he’d be a superhero if he did manage to make a difference. I just don’t believe that he is capable of making a direct impact no matter what policies he puts forth. I am not implying that he is not a capable man, a capable president, or even that his opponent would have been any better. This problem is just too big and will take a more collective effort and patience for it to right itself.

The president’s real power is not in what he does but what he inspires others to do. He has to have the wisdom to use his influence to move others to make a difference. It is the people who drive the economy and choose to run it into the ground or pull it out of a ditch. It is the people who protest, rally, and mobilize when something isn’t right. It is the people who raise awareness and reach out to each other in times of need. It is also the people who get caught up in petty rivalries, stray off onto tangent for far too long, and forget or lose sight of the work at hand. We need a leader needs to continually guide us by example, gently maintain our focus, and not let us get discouraged or feel that the situation is hopeless. Such feelings and thoughts can paralyze us when action is needed.

So, I hope that Mr. Obama has that sense of his real power and uses it to fight through the disenchantment that will inevitably follow all of this post-victory hope and optimism very soon. When the symbolism of this change, this ‘first’ in our history, loses its luster, we will need a strong leader to keep us moving forward.

While it was a majority that decided this election, it was by no means a landslide. There are many who did not ask for this change and are as ready to jump ship as I was four years ago. Healing those feelings of failure for the other half is critical because their numbers very nearly rival those who came out on top this time. This country is becoming almost fatally divided just as it did in the 19th century. The issues were different but were still closely wrapped up in economic troubles. The dramatic polarization has to stop, but how?

I can do no more than speculate and hypothesize, but I have a hunch. It doesn’t do me much good because I don’t have a solution with a plan of action to go along with it, but it’s a start. my hunch is that battle lines being drawn on social issues are beginning to take their toll. It’s okay for social issues to be a part of politics because it’s all about choosing people to govern us who support our way of life, but when the two largest political parties choose sides on things like abortion and gay rights, choosing a representative is made a lot simpler when all you have to do is choose the one from the party that has chosen your side. There is no more need to research candidates to find their stances on those issues that are important to you. You only need rely on the candidate to tow the party line.

We’ve lost some of the mixing and matching of ideas this way. It has become a package deal with only slight variations. You, as the voter, may have to choose between issues that are made incompatible in this way. Say, for example, there is a candidate that agrees with what you think our economic policies should be, but he belongs to a party that does not support your stance on abortion. Well, now you have to choose which of those two issues are more important to you, and most likely you will choose the one most likely to tickle your emotions or keep you conscience clear: abortion. Why not? The economy is just an unfeeling machine that is too complex for most to fully understand, but abortion is something you know is right or wrong by how you feel. Going with what you feel is much easier than figuring out a complex problem that is supposed to work itself out in time anyway. So, if you can’t choose a candidate that will represent your position on all of your most important issues, you choose one that at least represents you for the ones that make you feel good.

This model is broken and needs to be fixed. We must protect the rights of individuals, but I do not think an entire party should take a uniform stance on individual rights for an individual. We will prosper more through diversity of ideas than ubiquity. While it is ultimately the rights of the individual that we are fighting to protect, parties should limit themselves to broader issues or general governing philosophies and let individual politicians have their own say and their own individuality. They should be brave enough to stand up for their own ideas rather than hide behind the party. They should sink or swim on these issues without the party to keep them afloat by removing that responsibility.

Perhaps I have over-simplified this, but I don’t expect it to be a perfect fit. It is just a hunch that makes sense to me. I welcome all comments on this, and I look forward to seeing what comes in the days ahead.