So now it's time for unity?

Were you touched by the calls for unity we heard after the election?

Not me. As someone who always views where society is going with some skepticism anyway, I felt no sentimental surge. Is it time to feel unity and forget our differences? To stand behind Barack and whatever change may bring?

To any on America's Left who call for unity now, I have to ask, where was the beautiful unity and brotherhood all this time during the last eight years? I noted how Obama characterized those who disagreed with him as divisive in campaign speeches, a clever rhetorical tool. But can anyone say with a straight face that conservatives are divisive compared to liberals? That liberals have not been divisive?

Aren't we forgetting about "Bush stole the election" and "Bush is not my president" along with many other lines not so kosher to print? About frenzied protests throughout the years, including protests at thought-suppressed campuses against well-known conservatives simply being invited to speak? The threats of riots if the media-Anointed One lost? The "bitter" people clinging to guns and religion?

Of course they're all for unity--when they are in charge! Then, of course, it's time for everyone else to fall right in step with their big plans. (Rather than fight an all-out guerrilla political war as they did.)

The truth is that conservatives have usually been more politically correct than the champions of political correctness when it comes to dealing with the opposition. We see pretty good sportsmanship on the whole after a political loss, which is admirable. However, conservatives mustn't forget what it takes to win a culture in the long run. Maybe this is a good chance for them to learn, by watching the Democrats in 2009, because I think we may see a powerful lesson.

Furthermore, it wouldn't hurt to contemplate the enormous gains liberals have accomplished for their causes during the last few decades. Step by step they have been literally remaking our society to fit their ideals, finding a multitude of effective ways to gain power and influence and create change. And all this before the current Agent of Change even took the stage!

The problem is that when Republicans were in charge, they held back on transforming the nation and the culture. Imagine abortion never being brought to a standstill, despite Reagan, Bush, and the Republican Revolution. In contrast, Obama has indicated his plans to enshrine the right to abortion and sweep away all restrictions, without delay. Which course of action is more effective? Obama is fighting to win. (He also outlined a simple plan to win more minds and thus bolster the culture as well as the law on this issue.) Conservative leaders have been putting up only a half-hearted fight in comparison.

Liberals (the supposedly pacifist folks) know that wars are won by relentless and clever fighting, not by negotiating, talking, or hoping; by winning minds, not by passively respecting other viewpoints.

If you're the type of conservative that wants to win (in other words, you believe that the issues really do matter, there is a great deal at stake, and you want culture and politics to change) then now is the time to start thinking about 2010 and 2012, and even more importantly, how to influence society--something that transcends election years.

Otherwise, just sit back and watch the show. Oh yeah, and don't forget to be part of the new big happy family of unity! (At least until the rhetoric from the "uniters" turns nasty again.)

Conservatives don't really understand elections

It was a painful week, wasn't it?

The pundits are all yakking about what went wrong--funny how hindsight does that--but here's something I was honestly thinking before election night, because it was hammered in by what I saw daily during the time running up to the vote.

Conservatives are brilliant on the issues. But I think they just don't "get it" when it comes to winning elections, pursuing activism, and getting out the vote.

The Obama people knocked on my door--twice. They were hanging around everywhere. Posters, flyers, signs, you name it.

I said before the election that the conservatives could win if we got out the vote. We made up 48% of the popular tally, so this wasn't a small minority by any means. It was about even--but the liberal half got the word out and got everyone off the couch (and some out of the grave, etc.) to get out there and vote. And they won.

Yes, Obama had a ton of money, but there's more to it. Liberals are making ideas mainstream today that represented only a small fringe radical minority in the past. A small activist portion of the population keeps guiding our culture and our country in their extreme direction, and as they do so, they make sure that their beliefs are adopted by a larger part of the people. Then they repeat the process.

Meanwhile, those with conservative values tend to be a marginalized majority, with various issues gradually shifting to minority status as liberals create culture change with their effective and ruthless tactics. We've had many advantages over the years, but too often we've let them slip by, as have our elected officials. There's no excuse for this, people!

If conservatives want to win in the current environment, they must learn to be activists.

(Of course, there's much more to learn from this election. Such as: the Republican Party leadership doesn't really understand conservatives.)

The Fairness Doctrine and global warming

Today, in compliance with the Fairness Doctrine, this blog will be presenting opposing views from my new sock puppet Larry the Liberal.

Me: Man, it's getting cold. I hate winter!

Larry: The earth is warming up, though.

Me: You know the clock is ticking on another Ice Age, right?

Larry: I'm sure you're wrong, but even if there is an Ice Age it will be because of us. All catastrophes are due to global warming and man's evil production of carbon.

Me: Dude, life is based on carbon! Oh yeah, you're not alive.... Well, guess what gas makes all the lovely green plants grow?

Larry: I worship plants and I'm green, but I fail to see your point.

Me: You look white to me. The more CO2, the more plant growth, and the greener our environment becomes.

Larry: Carbon is evil. See, it says right here in the Bible...

Me: That's not the Bible, that's Al Gore's book! How about water vapor, which is way more of a greenhouse gas? Should we get rid of that too?

Larry: If it helps to change the climate.

Me: It would change the climate all right. You do realize that a lot of this green stuff is designed to give more power to the government, build political careers, redistribute wealth globally, and funnel more of our money into big corporations that play along and provide new eco-friendly products that we're forced to buy to replace the ones we already have, don't you?

Larry: What's wrong with giving the government more power if it's for our own good?

Me: You're not afraid of creeping tyranny and socialism? Big Brother? Kyoto? NPR?

Larry: I only fear global warming. Most other evils stem from it.

Me: This Fairness Doctrine is even worse than I heard. It's like a messed-up echo, or schizophrenia, or a Socratic Dialogue, or that one show on Fox News. It's hard to hear myself think.

Larry: We must eliminate all carbon emissions by 2012.

Me: How about breath? Will exhaling be illegal too?

Larry: We must cap and trade. Hey, isn't that an incandescent light bulb up there? I'm afraid I'll have to report this!

Me: Neighbors will be turning each other in. First they came for the light bulb users, then the SUV drivers, then the people who used too much toilet paper, and then they came for me, and there was no one left to...

Larry: Can you dial 911 for me? I can't reach the phone.

Me: OK, forget it. So much for the Fairness Doctrine.

My wife: What are you doing with that sock and those matches?

Me: I'm doing my part to help get us through the next Ice Age.