The author is Laura Hollis is:
Current: Associate Professional Specialist and Concurrent Associate
Professor of Law at University of Notre Dame.
Past: Director at Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Associate
Director and Clinical Professor at University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign.
Education: University of Notre Dame Law School , University of Notre Dame.
Summary: She has 20+ years' experience in curriculum and other program
development and delivery.
I am already reading so many pundits and other talking heads analyzing the
disaster that was this year's elections. I (Laura Hollis) am adding my own ten cents.
Here goes:
1. We are outnumbered. We accurately foresaw the enthusiasm, the passion, the
commitment, the determination, and the turnout. Married women, men,
independents, Catholics, evangelicals - they all went for Romney in percentages
as high or higher than the groups which voted for McCain in 2008. It wasn't
enough. What we saw in the election was a tipping point: we are now at a place
where there are legitimately fewer Americans who desire a free republic with a
free people than there are those who think the government should give them
stuff. There are fewer of us who believe in the value of free exchange and free
enterprise. There are fewer of us who do not wish to demonize successful people
in order to justify taking from them. We are outnumbered.
For the moment. It's just that simple.
2. It wasn't the candidate(s). Some are already saying, "Romney was the
wrong guy"; "He should have picked Marco Rubio to get Florida/Rob
Portman to get Ohio/Chris Christie to get [someplace else]." With all due
respect, these assessments are incorrect. Romney ran a strategic and well-organized
campaign. Yes, he could have hit harder on Benghazi . But for those who would
have loved that, there are those who would have found it distasteful. No matter
what tactic you could point to that Romney could have done better, it would
have been spun in a way that was detrimental to his chances. Romney would have
been an excellent president, and Ryan was an inspired choice. No matter who we
ran this year, they would have lost. See #1, above.
3. It's the culture, stupid. We have been trying to fight this battle every
four years at the voting booth. It is long past time we admit that is not where
the battle really is. We abdicated control of the culture - starting back in
the 1960s. And now our largest primary social institutions - education, the
media, Hollywood (entertainment) have become really nothing more than an assembly line for cranking out reliable little Leftists.
Furthermore, we have allowed the government to undermine the institutions that
instill good character - marriage, the family, communities, schools, our
churches. So, here we are, at least two full generations later - we are reaping
what we have sown. It took nearly fifty years to get here; it will take another
fifty years to get back. But it starts with the determination to reclaim education,
the media, and the entertainment business. If we fail to do that, we can kiss
every election goodbye from here on out. And much more.
4. America has become a nation of adolescents The real loser in this election
was adulthood: Maturity. Responsibility. The understanding that liberty must be
accompanied by self-restraint. Obama is a spoiled child, and the behavior and
language of his followers and their advertisements throughout the campaign
makes it clear how many of them are, as well. Romney is a grown-up. Romney
should have won. Those of us who expected him to win assumed that voters would
act like grownups. Because if we were a nation of grownups, he would have won.
But what did win? Sex. Drugs. Bad language. Bad manners. Vulgarity. Lies.
Cheating. Name-calling. Finger-pointing. Blaming. And irresponsible spending.
This does not bode well. People grow up one of two ways: either they choose to,
or circumstances force them to. The warnings are all there, whether it is the
looming economic disaster, or the inability of the government to respond to
crises like Hurricane Sandy, or the growing strength and brazenness of our
enemies. American voters stick their fingers in their ears and say,
"Lalalalalala, I can't hear you." It is unpleasant to think about the
circumstances it will take to force Americans to grow up. It is even more
unpleasant to think about Obama at the helm when those circumstances arrive.
5. Yes, there is apparently a Vagina Vote. It's the subject matter of another
column in its entirety to point out, one by one, all of the inconsistencies and
hypocrisies of the Democrats this year. Suffice it to say that the only
"war on women" was the one waged by the Obama campaign, which
sexualized and objectified women, featuring them dressed up like vulvas at the
Democrat National Convention, appealing to their "lady parts,"
comparing voting to losing your virginity with Obama, trumpeting the thrills of
destroying our children in the womb (and using our daughters in commercials to
do so), and making Catholics pay for their birth control. For a significant
number of women, this was appealing. It might call into question the wisdom of
the Nineteenth Amendment, but for the fact that large numbers of women (largely
married) used their "lady smarts" instead. Either way, Susan B.
Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are rolling over in their graves.
6. It's not about giving up on "social issues" No Republican
candidate should participate in a debate or go out on the stump without
thorough debate prep and a complete set of talking points that they stick to.
This should start with a good grounding in biology and a reluctance to purport
to know the will of God. (Thank you, Todd and Richard.)
That said, we do not hold the values we do because they garner votes. We hold
the values we do because we believe that they are time-tested principles
without which a civilized, free and prosperous society is not possible.
We defend the unborn because we understand that a society which views some
lives as expendable is capable of viewing all lives as expendable. We defend
family - mothers, fathers, marriage, children - because history makes it quite
clear that societies without intact families quickly descend into anarchy and
barbarism, and we have plenty of proof of that in our inner cities where
marriage is infrequent and unwed motherhood approaches 80 percent. When Roe v.
Wade was decided in 1973, many thought that the abortion cause was lost. Forty
years later, ultrasound technology has demonstrated the inevitable connection
between science and morality. More American than ever define themselves as
"pro-life." What is tragic is that tens of millions of children have
lost their lives while Americans figure out what should have been obvious
before.. There is no "giving up" on social issues. There is only the
realization that we have to fight the battle on other fronts. The truth will
win out in the end.
7. Obama does not have a mandate. And he does not need one. I have to laugh -
bitterly - when I read conservative pundits trying to assure us that Obama
"has to know" that he does not have a mandate, and public, his
willingness to rule by executive order, and the utter inability of so he will have to
govern from the middle. I don't know what they're smoking. Obama does not care
that he does not have a mandate. He does not view himself as being elected (much
less re-elected) to represent individuals. He views himself as having been
re-elected to complete the "fundamental transformation" of America ,
the basic structure of which he despises. Expect much more of the same -
largely the complete disregard of the will of half the American another
divided Congress to rein him in. Stanley Kurtz has it all laid out here.
8. The Corrupt Media - is the enemy too strong? I don't think so. I have been
watching the media try to throw elections since at least the early 1990s. In
2008 and again this year, we saw the media cravenly cover up for the
incompetence and deceit of this President, while demonizing a good, honorable
and decent man with lies and smears. This is on top of the daily barrage of
insults that conservatives (and by that I mean the electorate, not the
politicians) must endure at the hands of this arrogant bunch of elitist snobs.
Bias is one thing. What we observed with Benghazi was professional malpractice
and fraud. They need to go. Republicans, Libertarians and other conservatives
need to be prepared to play hardball with the Pravda press from here on out.
And while we are at it, to defend those journalists of whatever political
stripe (Jake Tapper, Sharyl Atkisson, Eli Lake) who actually do their jobs. As
well as Fox News and talk radio. Because you can fully expect a re-elected
Obama to try to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine in term 2.
9. Small business and entrepreneurs will be hurt the worst For all the blather
about "Wall Street versus Main Street ," Obama's statist agenda will
unquestionably benefit the biggest corporations which - as with
the public sector unions - are in the best position to make campaign donations,
hire lobbyists, and get special exemptions carved out from Obama's health care
laws, his environmental regulations, his labor laws. It will be the small business, the entrepreneur, and the first-time
innovators who will be crushed by their inability to compete on a level playing field.
10. America is more polarized than ever; and this time it's personal. I've been
following politics for a long time, and it feels different this time. Not just
for me. I've received messages from other conservatives who are saying the same
thing: there is little to no tolerance left out there for those who are
bringing this country to its knees - even when they have been our friends. It
isn't just about "my guy" versus "your guy." It is my view
of America versus your view of America - a crippled, hemorrhaging, debt-laden,
weakened and dependent America that I want no part of and resent being foisted
on me. I no longer have any patience for stupidity, blindness, or vulgarity, so
with each dumb "tweet" or FB post by one of my happily lefty
comrades, another one bites the dust, for me. Delete. What does this portend
for a divided Congress? I expect that Republicans will be demoralized and
chastened for a short time. But I see them in a bad position. Americans in
general want Congress to work together. But many do not want Obama's policies,
and so Republicans who support them will be toast. Good luck, guys.
11. It's possible that America just has to hit rock bottom. I truly believe
that most Americans who voted for Obama have no idea what they are in for. Most
simply believe him when he says that all he really wants is for the rich to pay
"a little bit more." So reasonable! Who could argue with that except
a greedy racist? America is on a horrific bender. Has been for some time now.
The warning signs of our fiscal profligacy and culture of lack of personal
responsibility are everywhere - too many to mention. We need only look at other
countries which have gone the route we are walking now to see what is in store.
For the past four years - but certainly within the past campaign season - we
have tried to warn Americans. Too many refuse to listen, even when all of the
events that have transpired during Obama's presidency - unemployment, economic
stagnation, skyrocketing prices, the depression of the dollar, the collapse of
foreign policy, Benghazi, hopelessly inept responses to natural disasters - can
be tied directly to Obama's statist philosophies, and his decisions.
What that means, I fear, is that they will not see what is coming until the
whole thing collapses. That is what makes me so sad today. I see the country I
love headed toward its own "rock bottom," and I cannot seem to reach
those who are taking it there.
Laura Hollis
