The Days After

"We were  *this close*"  I hear from the Republicans in the room.

"Really", I say - "ah - maybe not so much".

You were not *this* close - you were not even remotely close.  Your party didn't get one battleground state and no amount of hand wringing or finger pointing at natural disasters will make that different.  Your self deluded party has to face this hard.cold.truth:

As long as the focus is on limiting the social rights of others, Republicans will never again be close to leading anything more than their own state of mind.

Frighteningly, if Republicans had wanted to have more votes it wouldn't have been that difficult.  Most people are not all that altruistic.  Many folks desire to have less government and more wealth.    The inept workings of big government often leave people feeling let down.  It's not hard to feel conservative about taxes and government spending. What the Republican party would have to do to get those moderate and independent votes is simple:

• Keep their eyes out of the bedroom
• Keep their hands off women's bodies
• Keep the church out of state and federal government

Dump the conservative christian right and walk away with an election.  It would be simple, however, it would require growing up and letting people make their own personal choices about things that are... personal.   It would also mean actually walking the walk about less government.  Less government in all areas, not just the fiscal arena. 

It will be interesting to see if they learn the lesson this election is screaming to teach  - they have four more years to think about it.