Note to the Left: Four Years Ago, Conservatives Were Just as Depressed

Here's a news flash for Democrats and other Americans on the left: Four years ago, when Barack Obama was re-elected president, conservatives were just as depressed as you are now that Hillary Clinton lost and Donald Trump won.

I describe this as news because this undoubtedly surprises many of you. You probably never gave a moment's thought to how depressed conservatives were in 2012. (Why would you? Unlike you, we shun hysteria.) But believe me — we were.

Many of us believed that President Obama was doing great damage to America. Now we are convinced that he did more damage to America domestically, to America's position the world and to the world at large than any other two-term president. He left office with racial tensions — many of which he exacerbated — greater than at any time since the civil rights era half a century ago. He left the world's worst regimes — Iran, China, Russia, North Korea and radical Islamist terror groups — stronger and more aggressive than before he became president. Economic growth never rose above 3 percent, a first for a two-term president. He nearly doubled the national debt and had little to nothing to show for it. Obamacare hurt more people financially than it helped medically, including physicians. More people than ever are on government aid. The list is far longer than this.

Moreover, just like most Democrats in 2016, most Republicans in 2012 expected to win.

The depression among conservatives was palpable. To cite only my own experience, I turned the television off on election night. It was too painful to watch. Instead, I played hearts on the computer and listened to Strauss's "Death and Transfiguration" to lighten the mood.

But why does the level of conservative despair four years ago come as a surprise to Americans on the left?

First, unlike much of the left, most conservatives handle despair like mature adults. Most obviously, we didn't riot. In fact, in America, rioting — not to mention shutting down highways and airports, taking over college offices and protesting at peoples' homes — is a monopoly of the left.

Nor did we allow our conservative children to take a day off from school to demonstrate..

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