We, the people, have been repeatedly reminded of how important strong articulate candidates are.  Ronald Reagan was one of the best at articulating conservative views and turning the tables on the liberals.  We have had few since Reagan that were able or willing to do that.  Frequently, the Republican candidate clamors for the media’s approval and fears being called derogatory names.   We were, once again, reminded of how dangerous the behind-the-scenes shenanigans are in election outcomes.  Is that new?  No, but it is another painful reminder.

I have heard some articulate their view of what was actually on the ballot in these past elections.  Some of the postulations I can endorse, and some I find a bit beyond my ability to embrace.  Without getting into the myriad of opinions and offering my own, I will bypass the pundits’ opinions and share what I see.  If it resonates, excellent, and if not, then either toss it aside or modify it. It is your privilege to do so. You have the right and ability to think, so think!

There was supposed to have been a ‘red wave’ tsunami that would sink the ship of the Democrats and return control of both the House and Senate to the GOP.  That did not happen, and I was very apprehensive leading up to the elections.  I viewed some of the candidates as less than optimum and knew there would be unseen and sometimes seen manipulation of the vote.  I thought both would play a significant role in the outcome, and both did. 

I do not want to make this about cheating as an explanation of why the GOP failed miserably in this election.  That does not mean I do not believe there were some less-than-honest activities, but I will not make that the reason only a part of the reason for the failure.  At the risk of sounding like a conspiracist, I have observed the mastery of ballot harvesting, the use of mail-in ballots, the media, and blatant fraud by the Democrats.  The attempt to cheat is not new and will not go away in the foreseeable future.

The current occupant of the White House, Joe Biden, bumbles and stumbles over words and seems incapable of putting together two coherent consecutive sentences when he speaks.  We see reports from all sides that about three-quarters of America view the path America is on as wrong and dangerous.  Yet, the Left still held the Senate, and the House’s margin is razor thin.  How could that have happened?  What was there for us to learn in this electoral process? 

The adage “money talks” is germane and unmistakable in this electoral cycle. The massive amounts of taxpayer funds used to bribe voters to support the Democrats are real.  You could argue that doing so has exploited the Achilles’ heel of too many GOP candidates.  The ineptitude or unwillingness to get down and dirty and faithfully and forcefully articulate the conservative and often Christian view has been costly.  The Democrats are winning the rhetoric and spin war.  The GOP frequently has the deer in the headlights look and offers few, if any, alternatives. 

When the charges were hurled by the Democrats that engendered fear, the Republicans either seemed to ignore them or had no embraceable or viable response.  The accusations akin to those we have heard in the past were hurled with almost no reaction and reasoned counter by the GOP.  Why?  I suppose they thought that with the state of the economy and the dissatisfaction of many voters, they did not need to. They were wrong, very wrong!

Rush Limbaugh used to call the masses who tend to vote for the Democrats irrationally as low information voters.  Ignoring the diatribe, rhetoric, spin, and fearmongering is a pathway to defeat, even if that is the case.  That is a lesson we have been taught repeatedly without changing the approach. 

There was a simple and easy response to the charge that the Republicans were seeking to drive the stake in the heart of the senior vote about Social Security. Unfortunately, only crickets came from the GOP. The sound of silence was deafening.  There was an easy explanation regarding abortion, and a teaching moment could have been seized regarding the ruling of the SCOTUS that it was simply returning it to the constitutionally proper purview, the states, but not a peep.  The charge about crashing the economy was a slam dunk, but almost no Republican took the time to educate and elucidate the issue.  It was a bird’s nest on the ground, and they walked past it.  Thus, the uninformed sheep believed the fabrications and cost the Republicans in more than one race.

The charge that Democracy was on the ballot was true if by Democracy you meant monstrously big government and bureaucracy.   I will not waste your or my time explaining that we are not a Democracy but a Republic.  If anyone cannot grasp that, tossing those pearls would be a waste of time.  However, the Free Constitutional Republic was on the ballot.  If the Republicans truly stand for smaller government, they must learn to articulate the reason, the value, and the process to achieve that. 

I continue to suspect that they believe in smaller government only in the sense that it results in a minuscule reduction, not Limited Government.  The GOP must draw a line in the sand and resist all attempts to redistribute the wealth.  They must fight against the strangulation of unnecessary and damaging regulations being imposed.  They must find a way to reduce the entitlement rolls and make it more palatable to have a job than sit on the couch enjoying the government dole.  We need to help needy people, but we do not need to become enablers to encourage them to be idle. 

The Bible speaks to that in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” and 1 Timothy 5:8, “Anyone who does not provide for their own household, has denied the faith….”   Does that mean anyone on the welfare role is to be regarded as a sluggard and apostate?  No, it means that if a person can work, is willing to work, and has the opportunity to work and refuses, that person should be allowed to feel the pinch of their decision.  Choices have consequences, just like elections.

This election was, in a measure, about personal responsibility versus a free ride.  The younger voters are always emotionally, rationally, and politically in a state of flux.  They, like everyone else, are tempted by the dangling of the freebie carrot being continually offered by the Left.  They have been inundated with the indoctrination of public schools and institutions of higher learning.  They have yet to hear the rationale behind individualism, personal responsibility, constitutionalism, and conservatism.  They have not been taught the value of the Free Market and the truth about that baby in the womb.  Many of them have been taught for more than a decade of their lives that the Bible is just another view of life.

Ronald Reagan understood that if he was going to win the hearts and votes of the public, he had to be personable and articulate his values and the values of the Republican platform.  Maybe it was his background as a screen actor, his baptism into politics in being Governor of California, or his personality, but it worked.  We need to find candidates who can articulate the values most of us hold and are willing to fight for them.  That is a lesson we should have learned, and once again, we see the reality that Elections have Consequences. 

America, I pray that we will return to God, to moral rightness, to integrity, and a commitment to Constitutional governance.  If we do, we will see things move toward a better place.  If we do not, we will watch America become a memory.

God bless you, and God bless America!