The Election and the Future

Well, the election is over and all of the tension and stress that go along with it. Even though Obama will be the 44th U.S. president, I, for one, am glad that this election is over. I have certainly had enough election coverage and analysis for a month or two, and at least now there is no uncertainty about what the future holds for this country as far as leadership goes. A few key points from the general election and the congressional election: McCain lost several key states that Bush won in 2004, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, and Colorado (there may be others, but I don't feel like checking the electoral map right now), and the GOP retains a 44 vote minority in the Senate. The first point should serve as a wake-up call to the GOP, that they cannot hold a usually red state to the most liberal presidentail candidate since Jimmy Carter. I should hope that the GOP will take a good, hard look at itself and construct a battle plan for the upcoming congress in January. The second point is important because it means that the GOP still has the power of the filibuster in the Senate. For those of you unfamilar with this term, a filibuster is stalling strategy used by senators to "kill" a bill in the Senate. A senator or a group of senators will talk on the floor of the Senate until the bill's proponents abandon it. In order to defeat a filibuster, sixty votes are needed. All of this is to say that while Democrats will control the presidency and both houses of Congress, they will not have complete control over Capitol Hill like the GOP in 1866 or the Democrats in 1936. Where do we go from here (I say we in the collective sense of conservatives)? We can take comfort in the forty-four member minority and hope that they can withstand pressures from above and below and hold out until the mid-term elections in 2010. By that time, Americans will hopefully have realized their mistake in electing a freshman senatory from Illinois to be the leader of the most powerful nation in the world and erode the Democratic majorities in Congress. All of that being said, I congradulate Sen. Obama for his victory, and am proud at the way race and cival rights have progressed in the past generation. As John McCain said tonight in his concession speech, we need to unite together and support the new president. That does not mean we necessarily have to agree with him, but God calls each and every one of his children to submit to the authority placed over us. And so I will support the future President Barak Obama, just as I have supported the troops fighting overseas. I am trusting in the sovereign might of our Lord and taking comfort in the knowledge that he is in control. I do not know what the next four years holds for me and this country, but I do know that God will work all things for his glory and his will. I will leave you with this thought, with God as our source of strength and our foundation, we, as Americans, can overcome any obstacle, ford any river, cross any valley, and climb any mountain. God has blessed this nation, and he will continue to bless it so long as its people remain faithful to him.