Election Day is Over.

I’ve had an insane amount of visitors today coming from bookmarks rather than external links. I assume all of them were hoping I would give some sort of “Obama Won, What’s This Mean” post. Unfortunately, it’s too early to determine what path the president elect will take or how he will begin to micromanage his office.

However, I believe that Obama did not win as much as McCain lost.

What I mean by that is that, throughout the country, Republican incumbents were tossed from their legislative seats and replaced with Democratic newcomers. It seems that the country may not have been entirely in love with Senator Obama, but were bitter and disenfranchised by the Republican Party of the past 8 years, of which Senator McCain was a part of. In fact, in a local race, I nearly saw incumbent Republican state senator Ken Winters usurped by Democrat Carroll Hubbard, a man convicted of numerous felonies related to his misuse of authority as senator years ago.

Now, what I want to look at, given this information, is the long-term vision of the Republican party…

Currently, Democrats take up the majority of congress and we have a Democrat as our president elect. Republicans are hurting, forced to analyze how to take back congress in 2010. So, let’s think about what the Republican party could possibly do to seize control again.

1.) Let’s kick those politicians that think war is an economic stimulus out of office; Democrats and Republicans alike. This general election did not have a mainstream “anti-war” candidate and so anti-war voters had to select Obama as their candidate, although he is just as much of a warmonger as John McCain. Obama managed to throw in the word “diplomatically” and sway voters. If the Republican party could get rid of the neo-conservative war chiefs, we’d be doing a lot better.

2.) The economy was a major issue for most voters and it was this issue that essentially determined the election. Prior to the RNC or DNC, John McCain was the nation’s pick for president. It wasn’t until the economy came to the foreground that McCain’s campaign had a major setback, seeing as how economy was John’s weak point. Socialism always sounds pretty on paper and so many voters, based on interviews I’ve conducted, really liked that fact that Obama represented “some” socialism-like economic policies.

Face it. For the short time that socialism will work in this country, any Keynesian Republican will stand no chance. However, if the Republican party adopted another form of economic policy, such as Austrian, we would gain a major advantage, as Austrian economics stands in direct opposition to socialism. Besides, whether any one thinks it or not, Keynesian economics and fiat currency got us into this economic mess. Obama gained votes because he offered economic “change” contrary to the small, almost unseen amounts of socialism that John McCain endorsed.

3.) Drug laws are always a big democratic voting issue. If the Republican party actually stood by their vows of “Individual Responsibility” we would see a lot more freedom in our personal lives, including the exodus of government from our homes. Say “We’ll end the war on drugs”, which is the theoretical standpoint of the Republican party, and you would be amazed at how many straight-edge democrats the Republican party would find itself being endorsed by. This of course doesn’t mean that suddenly all drugs are legal and everyone gets high and cracked out every day of the week. There are a LOT of economic and social problems created by the prohibition of illegal substances and The War on Drugs does little to actually help the situation; therefore it is useless. I’ll actually write a post on this later and then I’ll edit this post to give a link to it.

4.) Kick this dogmatic “family values” platform. Politicians on both sides of the fence run on “traditional family values” pretty frequently and I’ve seen some “traditional family values” Republicans vote more liberally than some democrats. The Republican Party prefers to scare people with religion and moral compasses rather than discuss constitutional or legislative legality.  They would rather isolate middle of the line republicans in favor of securing a radical right wing conservative base.

This election was decided by independent voters and previously undecided voters, many of whom were middle of the line Republicans that had found themselves disenfranchised by the mainstream Republican party. Young voter turnout was incredible, most of whom were registered democrats, due again to the distinct hatred felt toward the Republican incumbents.

This race was not as much a success for the Democratic party as it was a defeat for the Republican party. If the GOP wants to make a comeback, they’re going to have to get off of their high horse and humble themselves, admitting that perhaps the 4 steps above are within their party’s guidelines, can secure independent voters and can bring new blood into the Republican lifestream.

It is not the policy of the Republican Party, based on their pledged ideals, to manage a federal department of education, sustain a military in 130 countries around the world, or subscribe to socialist economic policies. Democrats and Republicans alike have decided that these paths are the paths that are right for America. Only when Republican newcomers decide to challenge that status quo will we see victory and “change” in the Republican party.

I want to also make it perfectly clear that I am, indeed, a Republican. However, any one that knows me will tell you that I am not the type of Republican you would normally associate the term with. Hopefully this post will extend that knowledge to people that I cannot get time to talk to in my everyday life.

Any one that wants to challenge me, go ahead. If you want to say “Those four things don’t work with Republican beliefs!”, here’s the party’s official platform so we can begin our debate:

Limited Government, Lower Taxes, Individual Responsibility, Strong National Defense [Security]