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The Reckoning—And What It Means

Nov. 7, 2012 10:33am

Monica Crowley, Ph.D., is a Fox News Contributor, host of the nationally syndicated “Monica Crowley Show,” and the author of What the (Bleep) Just […]

Monica Crowley, Ph.D., is a Fox News Contributor, host of the nationally syndicated “Monica Crowley Show,” and the author of What the (Bleep) Just Happened? The Happy Warrior’s Guide to the Great American Comeback.

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mail@monicamemo.com

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It is profoundly disturbing to watch a once-great power commit suicide in real time.

There will be a lot of argument made about why Mitt Romney (and so many other Republicans) lost last night: he ran a poor campaign, he played it too safe, President Obama ran a more effective campaign, the Democrats’ bogus “war on women” worked, Republicans have to find a way to “talk” to women and Latinos and black voters…And on and on. All background noise and not particularly relevant right now.

A very slight majority—but a majority—of the American people KNOWINGLY chose four more years (at least) of high unemployment, anemic economic growth, break-the-bank spending, unsustainable and record-breaking deficits and debt, unpopular and bankrupting socialized medicine, and record numbers of people on food stamps and living in poverty. They KNOWINGLY chose four more years….of this.

A lot of folks are attributing Obama’s win more to his hypnotic hold on so many people than his actual policies, but I think that’s too simplistic a view. While Obama IS a uniquely seductive figure—and while many still feel a deep emotional investment in the first black president—it IS his policies which are—paradoxically—responsible for his win.

When Obama came into office in January 2009, he had three main, overarching goals: first, to expand government as fast and as widely as possible; the ultimate objective of that was to expand the number of people dependent of government as fast and as widely as possible; and the ultimate objective of THAT was to leverage it into a permanent Democrat voting majority. If you are getting a constant stream of freebies from a government promising to stick it to the other guy while providing you with cradle-to-grave ”security,” you are less likely to vote out the guy doling out the free stuff.

Obama had a multi-pronged strategy to achieve those three goals, but two were particularly effective. First, he chose a path of divide and conquer to pit Americans against each other in order to make it easier to slide in his radical redistributionist agenda. He divided us by class, gender, race, and age. He turned the American motto,”E Pluribus Unum” (“Out of Many, One”) upside down. It is now, “Out of One, Many.” The American experiment cannot go on as it once did driven by divisions and envy rather than uniting values and common goals.

The other thing Obama understood was that if you expand government, and dependency on it AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, you take the sting out of a bad economy. The more government aid and programs to “take care” of you during an economic crisis, the less likely you are to throw the bums out which caused—or are prolonging—the economic crisis. Therefore, by exploding government dependency, many Americans who would normally be bearing the brunt of this atrocious economy do not feel the kind of acute pain they would have in the past. As recently as 15 to 20 years ago, an incumbent presiding over this kind of disastrous economy would be thrown out on his ear (see: Jimmy Carter; see: George H.W. Bush. Carter’s economy was dismal, but Bush 41 got tossed for a much milder economic downturn than the epic disaster of the Obama economy).

Take the big pain out of a bad economy by getting people dependent, win elections. Get that coveted permanent Democrat voting majority. Although the results were extremely close last night and the country is fairly well divided, enough dependents and those who love dependency chose that path to bring us close to that permanent Democrat voting majority—if we’re not already there.

Obama strived mightily to get us to that tipping point, and he may have achieved it. Four more years and we will be well past it.

We must now negotiate our way around this new America: one of ever-bigger government, greater dependency, higher taxes, ever-more spending and crippling debt, socialized medicine, and dwindling freedom. It’s a bleak future—one that resembles more the imploding nations of Western Europe than the United States of America—but it’s one that we MUST…and more importantly CAN….fight.

It may very well be that it’s going to take a full-blown crisis to wake us from our torpor. We may have to be broken before we can begin to put ourselves back together again. After all, the slight majority who voted for Obama and the status quo also rejected the responsible plans of Romney and Paul Ryan to deal with the imminent crises NOW, BEFORE they blow up and consume us. But the majority has chosen to close its eyes and float along for now. But at some point, the laws of economics WILL kick in and the reckoning WILL come. So we may have to experience a Western European-style crisis—complete with catastrophic economic collapse and social upheaval—before we can start to fix it.

It’s an ugly reality, but it may very well be the case.

And that’s why we must never give up. We must never give in. We must never surrender. We must fight for this beloved country. It may be slipping beneath the waves, but it can still be rescued.

I know it’s tough to be a Happy Warrior this morning. We’re not feeling very happy, and we’re exhausted from the fight. But take a deep breath and realize two things: America CAN be saved, and she is WORTH SAVING.

It’s going to require even more hard work and more focus and more energy. But we don’t just give up on America. We fight for her. And today (or maybe tomorrow—even God needed a day of rest), we begin the fight anew.

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Comments (19)

its4us
Posted on November 9, 2012 at 9:53am
I’m prognosticating here because this article has the words the reckoning in it. I am self reflecting because I think we need a better ground game next time. I think we need to realize how much of what Obama opposition does is a knee-jerk reaction to being attacked by haters on the other side and how much is based in critical thinking. If we are the party of no just because we feel we have to draw a line in the sand then I think the other side has already won. I do think there are some bipartisan laws that can be passed that will not hurt us as much as we have been led to believe and I suspect that if we do think they will hurt us that badly then that is what the other side wants us to believe so that we will look even worse in the eyes of those whose votes we could easily get with some willingness to listen to what they really want…which is not always as it has been laid out to us (I think by design of the other side in order to stoke our fears of a takeover and chaos). We must remain reasonable people willing to give and be flexible on things that could actually help us in the end. A level playing field is what we all want in the end. They just made it sound like that a level playing field means stealing our stuff but it doesn’t mean that in all cases, just means tweaking and updating and speeding up the immigration process which will make them have to be just as “privileged” as we American citizens.

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its4us
Posted on November 9, 2012 at 9:39am
I mean, maybe we think we shouldn’t vote for some of these changes just because we feel attacked by those in the opposition party and that makes us illogical and too defensive. If we lost some of those votes out there because of our message than that could very well be our fault for not realizing that many people out there are not our enemies but they have legitimate reasons for wanting some of our laws updated to stop the grid lock. If more people wanted to come here at once than before, maybe that’s a good thing and if we keep saying no then that could ruin America and we won’t be a nation greatly desired to be a part of anymore by those who can contribute as our own family tree members did in the past.

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its4us
Posted on November 9, 2012 at 9:27am
If so many Mexicans are really conservatives who can’t get a break and they live in a place that lets them vote w/o I.D. who can blame them for voting for a faster path to citizenship? If that’s really a group that should be part of conservative base why not make them equal with us so they can vote for conservative values in every state in the union in the future and cross over to our side? Then they will compete for all jobs on an equal playing field and their employers will have to pay the same amount out of their pockets for them as they do for American citizens. That ought to actually help native born citizens it seems to me. I didn’t used to see it that way, and I know there’s a process in place but apparently it is gridlocked and out-dated for what we need now.

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its4us
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 6:11pm
Also even if the DREAM Act is something we don’t like, maybe it’s better to pass it and have stability “in the region” than chaos.

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its4us
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 6:09pm
When it comes to the budget deal…yes…make a decision.

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its4us
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 6:08pm
Some concrete decisions is better than uncertainty when it comes to business confidence in the American market. Decisions have to be made quickly.

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its4us
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 3:46pm
I do have to say however that the comments some very famous people make about their political opposition doesn’t really lend itself to creating an environment in which their opposition would want to work together with their representatives to compromise while having the football spiked in their face and being called names the whole way on either side. But then they say people who’s gonna be the first to stop the name calling and does it really matter? Not really…just doesn’t help anything except maybe shore up their own like-minded that’s for sure.

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its4us
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 3:36pm
I said in another story that I think Obama won because he unashamably embraced what his constituents want. If there really are a majority left that opposes what Obaman’s agenda has proven to be than the next people to run for this supposed opposition majority need to go out and get the vote in the same way, embrace who they are and accept what they want…don’t presume to phone it in…also get a door knock-and-drag system going next time like Obama did. Recognize the minorities are actually majorities right now and actually do real immigration reform so they can all be legal and compete on an equal playing field as American citizens so they no longer hold any competitive edge to get that job as cheaper labor. He can be learned from. Agree with your “adversary” quickly while you are in the way with him so that it may be well with you. Make the compromise that needs to be done now so we can live to see another day in the future. If the majority really want it, work to get the budget passed even to their favor for now and see how it goes 39% taxes is better than 70%.

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FuturePresident
Posted on November 7, 2012 at 6:59pm
If we can keep America around until 2028 I will be president. I know that seems a far ways away right now but I hope we can exist until then so I can get my shot at fixing our country. Hell if you guys would vote for me in 4 years (though I wouldn’t be legal, neither is obama so who cares) I would drag us out of this hole. I will be here with you all, through the struggles, the lies, and this corrupt administration. I will be here because I have to…I have to fix this country, so when the time comes, VOTE CHRIS RHODES FOR PRESIDENT!!

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FaithfulCitizen
Posted on November 7, 2012 at 3:41pm
Additionally, we’ve got a senior voting bloc that – thanks to Social Security – will continue voting freebies for themselves and screw everybody else!

Exhibit A: On the Florida ballot, there were no less than 4 ballot initiatives to reduce property taxes (either through new/expanded exemptions or recalculations of assessed values). The biggest one that passed: Amendment 11, which fully exempts “low-income” seniors who have been in the same house for 25+ years.
The other that passed: widows of military vets and first-responders… also mostly senior citizens!

We are borrowing from future generations to pay the entitlements of those who continue to exempt themselves from paying the taxes that will pay off the debt of future generations! It’s a vicious feedback loop, and it sucks!

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FaithfulCitizen
Posted on November 7, 2012 at 3:35pm
Monica – thank you for writing about this.
Every pundit kept saying “no sitting President has ever won re-election when unemployment was above 8%”. Really?!? Then explain FDR… oh! That’s right! He invented govt entitlements with his alphabet soup, including the grand-daddy of entitlements: Social Security.

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Bodacious_Boedi
Posted on November 7, 2012 at 3:06pm
What are these liberals going to do when an unfettered Dear Leader starts eating their young?

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- FaithfulCitizen
  Posted on November 7, 2012 at 3:22pm
  Moloch is already eating their young via abortion. They think they are escaping that through state-paid contraception. They are fools.
  
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adumb12
Posted on November 7, 2012 at 1:02pm
I compare Romney’s campaign strategy to pre-colonial warfare. Wars were waged in very “gentlemenly” fashion. When the rebels began fighting un-gentlemen-like, the Brits kept up appearance, not wanting to stoop to the unseemly tactics that the rebels were using. That decision was made at their own peril.

I’m not comparing Romney’s ideals to 1776 England, and I am sure not saying Obama is like the Sons of Liberty.

I am saying that it’s time the Republicans realize that “gentleman” tactics of the Romney/McCain era are NOT getting us results anymore.

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- Yeah_Buddy
  Posted on November 7, 2012 at 1:53pm
  You may be correct. We need to fight fire with fire. I recall my mother telling me…don’t stoop to their level, be a bigger person. But the other side plays so unfair, and people are so gullible, its time to change strategy.
  
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- socialism.rocks
  Posted on November 7, 2012 at 4:36pm
  the brits were torie conservatives the founders were liberals and they did lynch tar and feather conservatives…they burned them out sent them packing to canada that is why canadians basically hate us- it goes back to usa patriots kicking out the tories conservatives
  
  mark my words you republicans block everything we will push you onto reservations where you cant harm anyone but yourselves
  
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- crapweasel
  Posted on November 7, 2012 at 6:01pm
  Mark socialism.rocks. words..he would like nothing more than to put Republicans in cattle cars and ship them off…such a good little commie/lib/socialist/fascist ….I’m sure he thinks some of last 4 words don’t go together, but that’s because he is an idiot
  
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braddock66
Posted on November 7, 2012 at 12:08pm
I love you Monica.I will always defend the greatest country on earth. Yes we are down but not out.Stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above!

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Leslie Anne
Posted on November 7, 2012 at 10:54am
Pay down your debts.
Lower your cost of living.
Prepare for hard times ahead.
Try to also enjoy whatever decent-enough time we still have left.
…and when the economic implosion inevitably takes place, “go Galt”.

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