America voted and its voice was heard. We have reelected President Obama, and millions breathed a huge sigh of relief. President Obama has guided us out of one of the most challenging times in our history, even without a helping hand from the opposing party. The leaders of the Republican Party who were determined from Obama’s first day in office to make him a one-term president failed to achieve their obstructionist goal, at least in this regard. Now is the time for the president’s voice to grow stronger against the destructive nature of their ongoing obstructionism, and bring an end to their divisive tactics.
What made Romney lose the election? Was it the Big Bird backlash, the Bain Capital connection, his binders full of women, his comment behind closed doors about 47 percent of Americans being dependent upon the government and believing they are victims, his refusal to release his tax records, his backwards views on abortion or gay rights, his choice of a far-right, Ayn Rand acolyte with extremist positions as a running mate, or just being so completely out of touch with everyday American citizens?
It was all of these things and far more. But, if he had been elected, the billionaire plutocrats would’ve had a president sympathetic to their concerns in the White House, and there would’ve been harder times heaped upon the already hard times people are going through. Enough people understood this, and went to the polls to keep President Obama in office for four more years.
President Obama’s exceptional campaign team behind the scenes found out where the voters were, what they felt, what they believed, and what mattered most to them. Key social issues helped get people to the polls, and a smarter sense of national demographics than the opposition gave Obama a decisive electoral victory. In President Obama’s first term he was embraced by the world, and on Tuesday night he was reaffirmed by a majority of the American people. The faltering economy was how the extreme conservatives were going to bring down the Obama presidency, but they underestimated the intelligence and memory of American voters. Obama was handed a ruined economy by his predecessor, and he rolled up his sleeves and got to work on it. The opposing party saw our battered economy as a way to obstruct President Obama, and didn’t care that they were also obstructing the very lives of citizens in dire need.
Institutionalized corporate greed brought our country to its knees, and extreme conservatism has been shown to be unworkable as a modern, forward-looking social system. Across the United States, extreme conservatism was voted down. People have become more open to choice, more freedom-loving, and more discerning. They refuse to be told what they believe, since they already know in their hearts the liberal values they actually believe. Values voters came out in droves on Election Day, but this year the values represented were liberal values. And the message was this: intolerance will no longer be tolerated.
Moving beyond this historic election, people want a fair chance at achieving the American Dream once again. The American people have seen how extreme wealth concentrated at the top greatly unbalances the lives of citizens, and a growing number of people want the opposite, and are willing to work to change the system. The opposite of plutocracy is populism, and if there’s ever been time for a true populist movement that embraces a diverse range of voices, now is that time.
