Mid-Term Elections Recap

For us conservatives, we lost quite a bit on Tuesday. For me personally, there were three losses in particular that still disappoint me: Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth, and the ballot measure to ban most abortions in South Dakota. Another potential loss to be considered in Virginia Sentator George Allen, but I still am not too sure about him because I have heard that he supported abortion before his service as a U.S. Senator. I do respect him more after his concession speech, however. Especially after the Christian references he put in there. I hold out hope that Mr. Santorum and Mr. Hayworth will soon again run for public office. Even better, hopefully they could be members of a future Presidential Cabinet.

In Tennessee, things were a bit better. Bob Corker is our new Senator-elect. Although I still have a few questions about him, I trust that he will represent our state well. If he doesn't, I have made a bad mistake volunteering for him. I originally supported and voted for former Congressman Ed Bryant in his second failed run for the Senate. The first time around, he fell to current U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander in the 2002 Republican primaries in Tennessee. Bryant is another statesman that I hope makes another run for public office, although he stated in his concession speech this August that he is done with elected service.

Looking into the next two years, I am not excited about where we are headed. In the House, which was the chamber we needed most in Congress, liberal Nancy Pelosi will likely be Speaker. This is a woman who marched with abortionists and homosexuals. The new House Majority Leader will likely be Steny Hoyer of Maryland, another liberal. In the Senate, a liberal trio will lead the majority party: Harry Reid of Nevada will be Majority Leader, Dick Durbin of Illinois will be his whip, and Chuck Schumer of New York will be third in power. The Democrats would be wise to bring the moderates in their party to leadership positions. That would be more likely to keep them in power for a longer period of time.

Many will say that Americans voted for change on Tuesday. That is true to some extent. I have heard that 40%-50% of registered voters voted this election cycle. Let us remember that less than half of our voting age population are registered voters. That means that less than 25% of potential voters voted. It would be interesting to see what the other 75%+ thinks of the new direction we are now going in.

We are set up for an interesting two years!