The post-election recriminations from the left-wing have started to roll in. No one is taking responsibility for this historic defeat. Hillary is blaming Comey. I’m just relieved that she’s not going to be able to blame-away another Benghazi. I suppose I should let this go. I mean, “what difference, at this point, does it make?”
The left had lock-step cooperation from the mainstream media, academia, and a bully pulpit in the halls of government and still didn’t win. The media, the most visible of the lot, has already started to take a hard look at itself in the mirror. The publisher of the New York Times, in an open letter to his subscribers, has recommitted his newspaper to reporting with honesty. Good gosh. The rest of them need to find that same mirror or it will be a long time before the members of the Democrat party clerisy will be back in power.
Not all is well among those on the right, either, but they are too focused on the phenomenon that is this President-elect to talk about what’s next for the Republican party. Still, they should. Looking at this year’s primary season, they will have a ton of work to do.
These victors want to make America great again. The hapless mainstream media could not get over the Republican National Convention acceptance speech of our President-elect. “How dark it is,” they said. “It’s like there’s a lot that’s wrong with America.” Now, after the election, I guess they’d say there’s a lot that’s wrong with America. Especially if you work at the New York Times, I could conclude that some of what’s wrong is them.
Let’s cut through all of the rhetoric and look to the future of both parties. Each party needs to search for the very soul of their party and find it if they want to prevent a recurrence of 2016. Let me propose a new conversation towards clarity, if not unity.
Instead of talking about “how great we are,” why not focus on “how we are great?” What are those enduring American values that inspired the impartial observer Tocqueville in 1831, and where are they now?
As Tocqueville remarks, “Despotism may be able to do without faith, but freedom cannot. . . . How could a society escape destruction if, when political ties are relaxed, moral ties are not tightened? And what can be done with a people master of itself if it is not subject to God?” By bringing people together in a community of common belief, religion also combats individualism. Furthermore, religion is practically the only means of counteracting the materialistic tendencies of democratic peoples. Religion turns people’s minds beyond the physical, material aspects of life to the immortal and eternal. So strongly does Tocqueville see the necessity for such a force in democratic society that he warns society’s leaders not to try to disturb the people’s faith, for fear that “the soul may for a moment be found empty of faith and love of physical pleasures come and spread and fill all.” (gradesaver.com)
Instead of each party claiming “how good we are,” they should be examining how they are good and citizens should be demanding answers from them. If both parties struggled internally to field an inspirational candidate this year, then show me the party that will be grappling with their core values, institutions and standards going forward. Show me the leaders who will be articulating to others in their own party how they are good. Those are the leaders who would inspire me. It’s a tough sell for some.
For the last eight years, we have been hearing from the Democrats that traditional values, institutions and standards just don’t matter. They’ve termed proponents of traditional family values “deplorables,” “bigots,” and people “on the wrong side of history.” I don’t mean to be unfeeling, but to my friends on the left, how’s that stance working out for you?
If you want to inspire unity now and voters in the future, and steer clear of the confusion that was the 2016 primaries, major party candidates and the general election, start talking about how you are good. My sense is that will contrast the parties and their candidates very well and make it easier for us to vote for one or the other. How about it, Mr. President-elect? You could start now. Your Vice President-elect can really help you with this. If you want to make America great, give him a call and ask him, “How are we great?” His answer may lead you in the direction you should go.