We Won!  Now What?

By Judson Cox

We won an historic victory.  President Bush received 59,651,290 votes, more than any president in history.  He received 51% of the vote, while Sen. Kerry received only 48% (Bill Clinton was re-elected with only 49%).  He received 286 electoral votes and carried 30 states.  President Bush became the first president to increase his majority in both the House and the Senate since 1936.  In the face of four years of constant smear attacks by Democrats and their front groups, labeling President Bush everything but a child of God, he gained support across the board and won big!  

Republicans are likely to retain control of both houses of Congress for at least a generation.  Democrats are still whining that the Republicans must govern from the center.  Message to Democrats: We are the center!  A clear majority of voters have endorsed President Bush’s policies and given him a mandate, while giving us a majority.  Democrats are a dwindling fringe group, out of step with America .  Democrats support gay marriage and liberal judicial activism, yet on every ballot where gay marriage was an issue, it was voted down by an average of 75% of voters.  There is a mainstream in this country, but Democrats are not in it!  Democrats say President Bush must unite this divided country, work with Democrats, follow a moderate agenda and put Democrats in his cabinet.  They just don’t get it.  Democrats must abandon extreme liberalism, end their obstructionism and work with the President for the good of our nation.  Otherwise, we will continue to pick them off and replace them with conservative Republicans as we did to Sen. Daschle (the first Senate leader to lose re-election in 50 years).  In the words of Governor Schwarzenegger, “Why should I listen to a bunch of losers?”  If they are truly “democrats” they must accept the will of the people and embrace the President’s policies!  

Carl Rove realized something that most DC types never will, that the power lies with the people.  He realized that we could convince our friends and family to vote Republican more effectively than campaign spokesmen.  Each of us did our part to achieve this historic victory, because we understood the stakes.  We understood that trading a strong war time president for an appeasement minded internationalist would be the greatest victory our enemy could achieve.  The liberal media, Michael Moore and the Kerry campaign did their best to obfuscate this fact.  This created confusion among a large portion of the electorate.  In spite of millions of dollars in advertising and months of speeches, it was you and I who convinced those who trust our judgment to support President Bush.  We deserve a little gloating.  I received hundreds of emails leading up to the election, thanking me for helping undecideds to decide.  My favorite came from a man who went to the polls still not knowing for whom he would vote.  As he waited in line, someone told him about my last pre-election column, “Send a Message to bin Laden, Vote Bush”.  He decided then and there to vote a straight party Republican ticket!  Each of us shares in this victory, because each of us worked hard to see it happen.

The 2004 election was only the beginning.  We must continue convincing our friends and neighbors of the superiority of conservative ideals.  We must wage an unending campaign for the dominance of our ideology, just as we did to achieve the dominance of our party.  We must convince reasonable people of all parties to reject liberalism.  The liberals understand that they have lost majority status; they will fight hard to get it back.  Already, the race warlords are spreading lies, the politicians are learning to speak “the language of religion and values” and college professors are grading students on their willingness to accept Marxism, anti-Semitism and the kind of radical anti-Americanism that calls for “a million Mogadishus.”  Let us rise to the challenge, and fight for strength, freedom and traditional American values on the cultural battlefield with the same dedication and determination as our soldiers who fight on foreign soil.  If they are willing to make such incredible sacrifices, surely we can engage in a few heated political discussions to ensure that our nation does not fall to the enemy within – especially now that we are winning!