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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Looking Back: The Good, The Bad And The Progressive

When the media looks back on 2014 it will be portrayed as an awful year, mostly because progressivism took major hits throughout the year. But for everyone else, 2014 wasn’t all that bad. Sure, it had its low points, but even “Breaking Bad” and “The Wire” had a few less than stellar episodes in an otherwise outstanding run. Perfection is for God and the less than two-dozen pitchers who retired the 27 men they faced in order.

So lets look back at just a few events from the year that soon will be “was,” shall we?

First: The Midterm Elections.

The Good

The 2014 midterms could not have gone any better, if you’re even remotely interested in liberty. Republicans swept to victory across the country and in the US Senate. More people now live in places with Republican representation than any time in modern history. And those victories were not squeakers, they were resounding. Having seen what President Barack Obama and his progressive allies have done, and want to do, to this country, voters unambiguously gave them the collective middle finger.

The Bad

There was a lot of infighting on the right between “Tea Party” types and “the establishment.” These labels mean very little in the grand scheme of current event, with Obama in the White House nothing is going to dramatically change. The best we can hope for, and hope I do, is for things to stop getting worse. But too many people on the right seem to think the GOP can now make significant changes to failed laws like Obamacare simply by controlling Congress, and they get angry at the people who point out that Barack Obama is still President. He’s never going to face voters again, and he doesn’t give a damn if he leaves the nation in ruins, as long as those ruins are progressive and difficult to undo. Meanwhile, conservatives and Republicans will fight over tactics and call each other names. Someone needs to develop and articulate an alternate vision for the country, but it will be drowned out by a hundred voices accusing another hundred of “selling-out.”

The Progressive

The day after a resounding rebuke of everything he stands for, President Obama made it clear that he doesn’t care. Nothing has the potential to do more damage to this country than a progressive President with nothing to lose. While he’s been the greatest gift Republicans could ever hope for from an electoral standpoint, he still has his magic pen and phone and has shaken off his limited regard for the constitutional limits placed on his office. If the next President is a Republican, they will have to spend an inordinate amount of time undoing the damage Barack Obama did in his 8 years. And those last 2 are going to be something to behold.

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