I think I can speak for everyone, including the President
himself, by saying “Finally…the election is over.” No matter what your political views are, the past 18 months
brought annoyance, frustration, pride and hope for all of us. Some are disappointed with the results
of the election, while others are overjoyed. Nonetheless, we are relieved it is over.
Nothing can be done at this point; President Obama will be
back for another 4 years. I have
seem a plethora of tweets and Facebook statuses with cynical remarks by Romney
supporters about how this country is doomed, how the next four years will be
horrible and how minorities will tear this country apart. Do not think you’re out of the clear
Democrats. The gloating and
rubbing this election into the face of your Republican counterparts gets us
nowhere as well. It was already
known, but based off of the results of this election (specifically the popular
vote) this nation is deeply divided – almost equally. Speaking to Republicans, the bashing of the President and
Democrats further divides us. How
can we unite if we have two parties that hate each other with a passion? We
can’t. To Democrats, gloating is taking away from the win. Be proud about the win. Showboating is just as bad as talking
down upon the other party.
Aside from the vote in the presidential race, there were monumental and historical decisions that will shape
our future. In a few states there
were referendums such as the legalization of marijuana and same-sex marriage
approval in four out of four states, the election of the first openly gay
Congresswoman, the first bi-sexual Congressman, the first Hindu-American
Congresswoman, the largest minority vote percentage of all time and one of the
closest elections of all time.
This is the beginning of an entirely new social revolution that has
never been seen before in the United States. And no one can stop it.
With our eyes now set on the next four years, we
face a rapidly approaching fiscal cliff, social issues, economic issues,
environmental issues and just about every other issue one can think of. Just because President Obama was
re-elected does not mean that we are in the clear. What needs to be done now is TRUE bipartisan effort. There should be absolutely no reason
whatsoever that Congress should not reach across the isle to work with their
colleagues and the President. It
was clear that the Republican Congress’ main objective in President Obama’s
first term was to assure that he would be a one term president – well that
didn’t happen. It is time to man
up and start to get work done. Not
one Congressmen or Congresswoman should be proud of the work that they have done,
or have not done, nor should they be proud about the single-digit approval
rating that this country has given them.
It is a disgrace.
In addition to Congress needing to get their act
together, there needs to be a drastic change in the way the government
addresses social issues. It is no
secret that President Obama was more supportive of the key social issues in
this election – gay marriage, abortion, climate change, healthcare, women’s
rights, etc. It is these specific
issues that will shape the future of our nation. This result was an offering of hope to many who were worried
about whether or not their voices would be heard. I was one of them.
In President Obama’s victory speech after the election, he addressed the
issue of global warming; to me this was a sign that he may tackle this issue in
his next term. I have constantly
stated that this election would be the most important election in our lifetime
and the reason for it being so is due to the future of social issues – the
issues that many of which went unheard during the campaigns. I strongly believe that it was these
issues, in some ways more than economic factors, which were the deciding factors
for many voters in this election.
Again, what needs to be done now is a
coming-together of the Congress and action to be taken by the federal
government on social issues. Many argued that this was an election for the economy, and it
was in a lot of ways but very few realize that the economy is directly affected
by all of these social and environmental issues. So it in ways was not as much
of a question of who was better for the economy, but a question of who is
better for all of those issues.
It will be interesting to see how the issues voted
on in this election play out. With the legalization of marijuana in Colorado
and Washington, how will the federal government react to these policy changes? The country will now reconceptualize
how we view marijuana and treat it as a drug. Even with the legalization of
marijuana in these states, it is still illegal under federal law. It will be up to the Obama
Administration to dictate how they will approach this; will they 1) pull back
on their opposition to the legalization of marijuana and allow this change, or
2) keep with their current stance, oppose it and continue to arrest those that
use marijuana. I have a feeling
that they will choose the first option and we will see changes in the federal
opinion of marijuana. Gay marriage
was approved in Maryland, Maine and Washington and the constitutional ban proposal
in Minnesota was struck down. This
is the first time that gay marriage has won on an election ballot and this was
not only a win for the LGBT community, but also for our society. To me, this was the biggest win last
night. The suppression of
millions, who only want to love and marry a person that equally loves them back
regardless of their sexual orientation, has ended. This could very well spark a domino effect as we can expect
to see these referendums passed in more states in the future.
As it relates to the environment, the election
of President Obama means more than words can explain to any
environmentalist. Many feared that
a President Romney would mean the demise of our environment due to the cutting
back of regulations on carbon emissions, the increased production and
consumption of fossil fuels, decreasing usage of renewable energy resources and
the assurance of a Keystone XL Pipeline.
With President Obama remaining in office through 2016, environmental
supporters (and even those who do not place the environment as a high priority)
can sleep knowing that we will have a president that will continue to push for
regulations on carbon emissions, increasing the production and usage of every
type of renewable energy resource and, hopefully, a president that will finally
take a stance on climate change.
The assurance is not all there, though. There is still a possibility that President Obama will sign
and allow the building of the Keystone XL Pipeline; the motives for doing this
seem to point at an economical boost as well as a temporary increase in a few
hundred thousand jobs. There is no
environmental benefit to such an action and just about every environmentalist
and climate scientist will agree with that statement. Going forward with the Keystone XL Pipeline may very well
put us past the “Point of No Return” as it relates to atmospheric carbon
dioxide levels. More so, this
point of no return is the point that if passed means that any effort to combat
climate change and global warming will be utterly useless. If passed, we could go into a downward
spiral of environmental and climatic changes that will result in uncontrollable
sea level rise, increased major storm activity, droughts, floods and worst of
all, famine. The scientific evidence
is there, and it is widely supported by virtually every scientific academy in
each nation as well as almost every scientist in the world.
It is time for climate change deniers to wake
up. No more time can be wasted
arguing over an issue that is an occurring reality. Fossil fuel companies and climate change deniers - such as
the Koch Brothers and Oil PAC’s - are spending billions of dollars each year
trying to lobby against action combating climate change. These entities are destroying our nation
and our world. By suppressing
action that will inevitably save millions of lives, they are the ones that will
be, if no action is taken by politicians to combat climate change, the route
cause of the climatic changes that are so close to becoming permanent.
While these social and environmental issues will
most likely shape the future of our nation, there are other issues at hand that
will ultimately shape the future of our current political system. With the nations demographical make-up
rapidly shifting, politicians and political parties must now adapt to these
changes if they plan on surviving.
In addition, extremist groups that have infiltrated the two main
parties, if not eradicated, will be one of the reasons that these parties
fail. In 2012, it was clear which
party had adapted to these changes prior to the election – it is clear because
they won.
After the election, Fox News figurehead Bill
O’Reilly, said on post-election coverage, “It's a changing country. ... It's not a traditional
America anymore. And there are 50 percent of the voting public who want stuff.
They want things. And who is going to give them things? President Obama. He
knows it. And he ran on it.” The traditional America he is referring to is
White America. This can be proven by comments he later made in the same
statement, “Whereby 20 years ago, President Obama would have been roundly
defeated by an establishment candidate like Mitt Romney, the white
establishment is now the minority....”
It
is not only Bill O’Reilly, Facebook and Twitter were polluted with negative and
racist comments that emulated O’Reilly’s statements. It was very discouraging to see that friends of mine, after
hearing the election results, took to social media to express their outrage by
saying things such as, “Its clear that the white
people are now the minority we had a good run we built a great country its time
to continue to let others tear it apart..... moving back to my homeland Abruzzi
Italy” This seems to be one of the main issues in Right-Wing America, the
inability to accept change and adapt to it. The traditional old-school political views cannot and will
not survive for much longer.
The two-party system in America was created to
allow for people to identify with different ideological views on certain issues,
to cater to our voting system, and mainly due to two opposing views on how to
interpret the Constitution (an issue that is still heavily debated today). But since the formation of the
two-party system by Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton some two hundred
years ago, our nation has become a polarized mutant of political division.
Going back to adaptation of the Republican
Party, it seems that the actual minorities in this election (Latino’s and
African-Americans) have been put off by the current opinions on social issues
that the GOP has. This is even
clearer for the women demographic, which seems to be rapidly shifting towards
Democratic values due to the issues of contraception, abortion and
equality. These are the three issues
that have placed a heavy burden on the Republicans and have not only cost them
the women vote, but it has cost them the respect of many Americans and the
international community.
The extreme division in America seemed to start
as soon as the 2008 election was decided and Barack Obama was announced
President-Elect. Prior to that,
while many heavily disagreed with Bush policies, there wasn’t a massive
division of this country, ideologically speaking. There was still respect given to President Bush by his
political opponents and other Democrats.
Once President Obama was elected, there was an overwhelming sense of
rage among Republicans in Congress and Republicans all over the country. Some of this rage was due to, as
horrible as this sounds since it is 21st century, the presidents
skin color, while others saw his 21st century political views as
alien and socialist. I think that
the biggest signal for disgust in the President’s election came in October 2010
when Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, “The single most important thing we want to achieve
is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” This to me was the biggest issue and clearest indicator that
there was an issue in our political system. Putting aside the wellness of our nation and most
importantly its peoples, Senator McConnell, speaking on behalf of the entire
Republican delegation, said that the single most important goal for their party
over the next two years was to make sure that the president did not get
re-elected. It wasn’t healthcare,
or the economy, or immigration or our national debt, or passing a budget. No, it was denying President Obama a
second term. In this same year,
there was a massive shift in Congress that would shape how the next two years
went – the rise of the Tea Party in Congress, specifically the House of
Representatives.
The Tea Party is an extremist,
far right, newly formed party that radicalized the entire base of ideologies in
the Republican Party. I believe
that this was the worst thing that could have happened to the Republican
Party. The opinions taken by these
newly elected leaders seemed as if these Congressmen and Congresswomen came
right from the 1920’s. In what
seemed to be an overnight transformation, these views infected almost every
single Republican member of Congress.
From 2010, when the GOP took control of the House, to 2012, we saw
nothing but gridlock, hate, and a Congress with a single digit approval rating.
On November 6, 2012, the people
spoke; many of those Tea Party members that were elected in 2010 were gone and
in many of these elections, a Democrat took their spot. In just those two years, our nation
seemed to have taken a step backwards – actually more like 100 steps. The Republican Party stuck to their tradition
beliefs on key issues (that in many ways became radicalized), while the
Democratic Party accepted the change that was taking place in America and
adapted their entire political ideology to them.
Here is where the issue comes in
for the Republican Party, just like climate change, in politics, when there is
rapid social change going on in a nation, there is a point of no return for the
party that does not conform to accept the changes taking place. This is what is happening in
America. Democrats are ahead of
the game and Republicans in Congress are standing still, and actually moving
away from the change. This is not
just my opinion, but after the election, many Republican correspondents and
activists expressed this same concern.
I propose two solutions to the Republican Party that they should do if
they expect to have a place in American politics in the future.
The first is straightforward:
Change and Adapt. The reason you
lost this election was because of minorities, the youth and women. Many are offended by the fact that you
have discriminated against them and demoralized them with your stances on
equality, immigration, women’s rights, and environmental issues. It is clear that the GOP’s extreme and old
school views are not wanted nor are they warranted in modern society. In order for this party to still be
competitive, drastic reconstruction needs to be done from within the party,
starting with the leaders. Even
former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested that the GOP broaden its
views on issues. This can start
with the people that are elected into the Republican Party. Which brings me to my next suggestion:
Split from the Tea Party.
This is essential for the
survival of the entire Republican Party.
Their view caters to such a small percentage of the population, yet they
have had such an influence on how that party runs. There is no longer such a thing as a Moderate Republican in
Congress; you are both firm and far right, or you are shunned from the party
and labeled as a traitor of what it means to be a Republican. Think I’m crazy? Ask Republican Senator
Dick Luger, who served in Congress as the Senator of Indiana for 36 years and
was beloved by his party and his state.
Luger lost in the Primary Election to the State Treasurer – and Tea
Party Member - Richard Mourdock.
Mourdock is the same person that said babies born from rape were part of
God’s plan. Mourdock went on to
lose the general election to Democrat Joe Donnelly. Lugar is just one case; from 2010 to 2012, this happened
numerous times to some of the most prominent figures in both the Democratic and
Republican Parties.
In 2012, Tea Party incumbents
and candidates cost the Republican Party many seats that were lost to
Democratic nominees. After just
two years, and after some of the best Republican politicians lost their seat,
America voted these narrow-minded, extremist, “Americans” out. In just two years, the reputation of
the Republican Party - once strong and willing to work with Democrats, and a
party that has put some of the best and most famous presidents in the White
House - went from good to bad. The
Tea Party brought Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman (the laughing stocks of the
Party), Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin, and Donald Trump and the Koch Bothers
into the national political spectrum more now than ever before.
With a combination of these two
solutions, the Republican Party can regroup and become a stronger more likable
party that will be able to compete with the Democratic Party in the
future. If they do not do either
of these, they will not have a future, at least not a future where they are
competitive party for the presidency.
They must accept the changes that are taking place in our nation and
conform their policies to them.
While they do not have to completely take a liberal approach to
everything, with certain historically red states starting to turn more liberal
and becoming purple states (Florida, Colorado, New Mexico, etc), it will become
harder for Republicans to compete for the presidency in an Electoral College
Voting System.
By accepting and not
discriminating peoples (whether they be constituents or those in Congress) that
believe in climate change, gay marriage, equality for women and men, abortion,
the Republican Party will be able to have a better chance of not only surviving
as a political party, but they will also be able to recruit the youth, more
women and minorities. With these
demographics becoming the future of American politics, as well as becoming the
majority demographics in future elections, the Republican Party does not have
much of a choice at this point. It
is crunch time for them; only time will tell what they choose to do.
