“Something Happened On The Way To The Forum” or something Strange Happened To Me On November 6, 2012

Something strange did happen to me as a result of the outcome of our presidential election on November 6, 2012. My reaction to our unexpected lose doesn’t seem to coincide with what I perceive as the general reaction of my fellow travelers. I am not feeling the sane level of despair that most conservatives are feeling. Although I have no clearer idea of what our strategies and plans should be going forward, I perceive that I am much calmer about that than most. I believe in time it will come to each of us what we each need to do in the months and years ahead. But, what happened to me is much stranger than I have yet explained. I think it is going to be difficult to put into words, but let me try.

I followed the election results on the internet. because of where i live, that was my only option. I also was participating in a live blog over at Steve Dennis’ place, America’s Watchtower. Fox News had a great interactive electoral map where you could click on any state and see the early vote results being updated continuously. I was watch Florida very closely. My alarm bells were going off in my that things weren’t looking as if they were going the way we anticipated. When Ohio was declared for Obama, about 9:00pm  my time, I, like almost all of you felt like I had been sucker-punched. I didn’t even bother to say good night to those who were also participating in the live blog or even make one final comment. I immediately began closing the pages I had open, shut down my computer, and I went to bed.

The day after the election ny post was titled “Divide and Conquer Still Works and Elections Do Have Consequences”. For whatever reason the traffic at my little blog set a record by a large margin. My following posts expanded on the theme of what the consequences of the election might be, in my opinion. And, you all know I paint a very dark picture of what is coming to America. I read an article in those days by someone whose name I should remember. but don’t, who wrote a line that captured exactly how I feel about America’s future. The writer said: “America’s decline will be slow until it isn’t.” This is what I believe, too. America will continue it’s slow (not all that slow to most of us) decline due to a continuation of policies that President Obama and the Democrats are going to continue to impose on the country. But, when that fiat  debt addiction bubble does burst, as it must, then the fall over the cliff ends with a sudden stop  I think most of us see a similar future. No one, however, can predict the future. The future often presents us with surprises and sometimes those surprises can be pleasant ones. Be that as it may, we have to conduct our lives with our best guess of what the future will be like and, in general., we do that by following trends and projecting them into the future.

If you followed my latter posts, you also know that I predict that order will eventually be restored to the world and America. I believe that because I believe the same people who met at Jekyll Island many years ago and gave us the Federal Reserve System and the same people latter met at Bretin Woods and gave us the fiat debt adiction monetary system that is destined to collapse, and these are the same people who already have a plan for what comes next. Now, there is a high probability that the conservatives who are around when the new order takes hold will not like it much. However, it will probably so much better than the chaos that precedes it. And, that is why I wrote a recent post urging conservatives to start taking a long view or begin to think  and plan long-term. By the way, support for that idea was less than overwhelming. None the less I still believe that is what we must do.

So, the question remains. Why is this humble observer less distraught, more willing to slog on, and wants to start thinking long-term than most other conservatives? The reaction of my fellow travelers is very rational and logical. Why then is my reaction so different? And, I haven’t told you the really strange part yet.

Not only am I less distraught than most of you, I actually feel better; both mentally and physically since we learned Obama will have a second term than I was feeling before the election. How strange is that? And, there is more. I have also experience a behavior change that is out of character for me. The behavior change that my wife and stepsons have noticed is that I am much more talkative. That really is out of character for me. I find myself seeking out my wife and stepsons to engage them in conversation, all be it about the stuff I write about; but I had never done that before. Well, I have no guess even that could explain the behavior change but I do have a guess about the rest of it.

I realize as i write these words that I am over using the word “strange”, but I don’t have a better one so bear with me.,  please.

In a strange way, Obama’s winning a second term was for me a relief. Yes, a relief!  I think it has to do with several things. One, may be that like most of you, I was feeling a lot of stress in the months leading up to the election. The stress I think was due to a number of doubts I was having. Although I was confident we were going to win, I did have some doubts. The polls, for example were very confusing. I also had doubts about our candidate, Mitt Romney. If he became President could or would he do all that I thought had to be done. For most of us, Romney was not our first choice to lead the ticket. For me, however, the more I learned about Romney the more I liked him. In spite of what I knew about who his principle campaign doners were and in spite of his record as a governor and in spite of his flip-flopping on issue important to conservatives I came to believe that Mitt Romney was a very decent and honorable man and I cling to the hope that once in office he just might do more than we expected. Yet, I had my doubts. Well, when it sunk in that Obama had won, there were no more doubts.  America was going to continue its decline and the future was now more or less predictable. A very dark fur¡ture to be sure; but for me the stress of doubt was removed and I and everyone else could begin planning for how  best to deal with what is coming. That then is why I think I am experiencing less despair maybe than most and why I actually feel better both mentally and physically. The possibility exist that I suppose that i am experiencing a mental break down. We’ll se. So, what do you all think? Do you have a better idea of why my reaction to the election results are so different from what most of you are feeling?

Well, now you know what I’m thinking. What are our thoughts?