Looking Back at Election Day 2009: Shaun Hautly

It was interesting to see historically democratic-leaning states go Republican, but as we watch bipartisan politics evolve in this country, it really isn't so surprising. Obama is a Democrat. No one is arguing that. The Democrats get to gloat that they've got the White House, and the Republicans have the right to complain about everything that's wrong with the country. However, if you look at Obama's current track-record, it really is split down the middle: Yes, we're going to health-care reform (D) but we also just sent 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan (R). Yes, we had a 288 Billion Dollar tax cut (D), but we also haven't closed Guantanamo (R). Yes, we had a giant "cash-for-clunkers" stimulus (D), but we still haven't legalized gay-marriage (R).

We're seeing more and more examples of other politicians siding against that little letter next to their name. However, really, it doesn't matter. That's not from a let's-all-get-along standpoint, that comes from a no-seriously-it-doesn't-actually-matter standpoint. One simple example: Bush was Pro-Life. America still had eight years of abortions. Just because a politician feels one way, they cannot single-handedly overcome a nation. There are checks and balances. If Americans feel strongly enough about an issue, they should write letters to their representatives. That way those representatives can properly REPRESENT their constituents. If they don't, we replace them. That's the beauty of our system.

However, the failure of our system is not the system, but ourselves. The reason things don't go the way we want, is because we don't speak up-- not to the right people, anyway. We blog, we complain at parties, we wear "Not MY President" t-shirts, we keep McCain bumper stickers on our cars, and we whine. There's no productive action. People complain just enough to make their stance known, but we also know that it's just a stance. And when we need a movement, standing doesn't help. This country is designed to move in the direction of whatever it's most active voters choose. So let the Rs and Ds fight it out, they're still going to sign the bills that Americans choose.

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