{"id":564,"date":"2008-11-07T19:50:28","date_gmt":"2008-11-07T23:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/?p=564"},"modified":"2008-11-13T06:56:03","modified_gmt":"2008-11-13T11:56:03","slug":"dawn-of-hope-and-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/?p=564","title":{"rendered":"Dawn of “Hope” and “Change”"},"content":{"rendered":"

photo-2-small.JPG<\/a> <\/p>\n

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
\nSlouches towards Bethlehem to be born? <\/p>\n

—William Butler Yeats, \u201cThe Second Coming\u201d
\n_________________________________________<\/p>\n

The final weekend. It all closes in, the raging noise, the incessant campaign attack commercials on every channel, the rabble rousing threats of violence and rioting. It punctures every facet of one\u2019s awareness. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible to detach. Strain and tension permeate the atmosphere. Around the country and the whole world.<\/p>\n

Oh Lord, I groan. Let this, too, pass.
\n____________
\nTHE WEEKEND\t<\/p>\n

I leave for a trade show, the first of the season. A small show at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown. Might as well go hang out with wacky horse people for a few days.<\/p>\n

I arrive Saturday morning and set up my booth. Small show, maybe sixty vendors. First year for it. It opens at ten. Traffic is slow from the get go. A few mild rushes, mostly nothing. Probably our first and last year at this venue, I figure.<\/p>\n

I mingle with the other vendors. We chat. Complain about the lack of show traffic. My neighboring table hosts girl scouts. Some trail ride setup. They have free candy and cookies. I chat with the Den Mother. She\u2019s friendly enough, and almost normal. No horse person is completely normal. Turns out she\u2019s a Democrat. No big surprise there. I avoid identifying my political allegiance, or lack thereof. <\/p>\n

She returns to her scout troop. I hear her speak Sarah Palin\u2019s name, followed by scornful snickers. Den Mother is busy indoctrinating her precious little troops.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou laughing at Sarah?\u201d I ask, irritated. Leave her alone. You snide easterners. <\/p>\n

\u201cYep,\u201d Den Mother answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou better not,\u201d I retort.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are,\u201d she replies.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou better not,\u201d I repeat. \u201cDon\u2019t even get me started on Obama.\u201d<\/p>\n

They huddle and lower their voices. I ignore them. <\/p>\n

Thankfully, the show reaches its disastrous conclusion on Sunday afternoon. Suppos-edly at five, but all the vendors are packing and fleeing at four. Nothing going on. I leave Delaware Valley College, probably forever. Head home to slurp up the Simpsons Halloween Special and some good old Sunday Night Football. <\/p>\n

The Colts beat the vile Bellichek and his evil Brady-less Patriots.
\n________
\nMONDAY<\/p>\n

I sleep in. Take the day off, as I usually do after a weekend show. Finally rouse up around ten and head to the gym. One day to go. <\/p>\n

Glenn Beck is on the radio. I like Glenn. Today he\u2019s somber. Worried. Mostly about his job. Nah, that\u2019s not fair. I give him credit. He\u2019s worried first about where the country is headed. Then about his job. He figures the Fairness Doctrine might knock him off the air. He may be right.<\/p>\n

Rush bounces on at noon. Loud and boisterous as always. Rages against Obama. I detect a tinge of fear, maybe mild hysteria. I like Rush. Respect him a lot, mostly for his outlook on life through good and bad times. Today he\u2019s urging people to get out and vote. Just go. The polls are what they are. Who knows how biased for Obama? Designed to suppress the conservatives, Rush claims. He may be on to something. I don\u2019t know. <\/p>\n

I check my email. Loads of forwarded junk. Don\u2019t forget to vote, one admonishes. What am I, a child? Obama is like Hitler, screams another. I sigh and wonder what sins I\u2019ve committed in the past that would make anyone believe I have the slightest interest in reading this political garbage. I\u2019m an adult. I\u2019ll vote if I want to. Won\u2019t if I don\u2019t want to. I delete the emails without reading them. There will be many more in the next twenty-four hours, I think to myself resignedly. <\/p>\n

Election eve. I check Drudge. Polls bouncing all over. Obama blowout, screams one. McCain closing, proclaims another. They all show a decent percentage of undecideds. If McCain wins, it\u2019ll be because they broke for him. <\/p>\n

I watch a bit of Monday Night Football and head for bed. Tomorrow is the day.
\n________
\nTUESDAY<\/p>\n

I head back to the office. Daylight savings time came on Sunday. The day drags. A buddy calls. He\u2019d gone out and bought a new rifle the night before. The gun shop was jammed. People buying rifles and handguns. Gun sales have shot up 30% to 50%, in anticipation of an Obama win. Fear reigns. Of what the Dems will do, if they win it all. It won\u2019t be pretty.<\/p>\n

The talk shows are strangely muted. Glenn Beck believes Obama will win. He\u2019s uncharacteristically quiet, reflective. But not Rush. He\u2019s not convinced Obama will win. Or at least that\u2019s what he claims. Don\u2019t watch the news, he says. They\u2019ll call the states early for Obama. Don\u2019t pay any attention. Come back and listen tomorrow. I\u2019ll have it all for you. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what to think. I still believe McCain will pull it out. Or at least that it will be much closer than we\u2019ve been led to believe. Just something deep down. But I don\u2019t know. There is no early exit polling this year. Not after the Kerry debacle four years ago, where the exit polls had him winning in a landslide. The networks don\u2019t want that egg on their faces again. They\u2019ll be more careful.<\/p>\n

Time crawls. I hate the week after a time change. Screws up one\u2019s interior time clock. Five o\u2019clock finally arrives. It\u2019s getting dark outside. I head for the gym, then the polls. No crowds this late. I\u2019m relieved. <\/p>\n

I take a paper ballot and walk into a booth. I vote my principles.<\/p>\n

I meet a friend for dinner. We chat over a leisurely meal. When I get home, it\u2019s nine o\u2019clock. Eastern polls have been closed for an hour. Time for calls to be made on the race. <\/p>\n

This year, I have purposed not to watch any TV talking heads on election night. Can\u2019t stomach their superior, sneering faces. I click on Drudge instead. Check the numbers. Tight in the battleground states. With 10% of the vote counted, Pennsylvania is called for Obama. Oh, well. It\u2019ll be that kind of night. Republicans losing several Senate seats, too. <\/p>\n

I go to bed a bit after ten. Tomorrow will tell. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.<\/p>\n

I sleep fitfully through the night.
\n____________________
\nWEDNESDAY & BEYOND<\/p>\n

The alarm clatters. 5:45, time to get up. I fire up the computer and go take a shower while it warms up. Dress. Then sit down and click on Drudge. <\/p>\n

Obama is our new President. Electoral landslide. I\u2019m not surprised, but to actually see it, staring coldly from the screen, leaves a hard knot in the pit of my stomach. <\/p>\n

He did it. Give credit where it\u2019s due. He won it all. Both houses of Congress with him. All the power to the Dems. <\/p>\n

At least the vile Al Franken hasn\u2019t pulled it off in MN. Not yet. They\u2019ll keep recounting until he wins. That\u2019s the way Democrats work. <\/p>\n

The office is muted. We discuss the election. What it means. What the future holds. What might change, and likely will. Higher taxes. Diminished second amendment rights. <\/p>\n

For true freedom lovers, America is now an occupied country. As it has been for years, under Bush the Younger. And would have remained, regardless of who won this round. But especially so now under Obama. And Reid and Pelosi, two of Washington’s most wacko liberal crackpots. <\/p>\n

A new day has dawned. Of \u201chope and change.\u201d Vacant, undefined terms. Successfully sold by a slick Chicago huckster to a roaring, cheering mob of mindless swooning sheeple. A huckster who never worked an honest day’s labor at a real job in his life.<\/p>\n

Republicans now inhabit the wilderness. As they so richly deserve. They will remain there until they repent. If they don\u2019t repent, they\u2019ll wander, forever lost. <\/p>\n

In the meantime, dark forces of a new kind of oppression will be unleashed upon the land. They will reign, seemingly unchecked, and will do their utmost to dispirit, to de-stroy, to demonize, to mold and forge this country into the image of evil they worship in their hearts. <\/p>\n

And they will succeed, to some extent. To the victors go the spoils.<\/p>\n

Until a new force arises from the ashes and casts out the vile oppressors. Based on the raw simple concepts of freedom from the tyranny of the intrusive secular nanny state. Freedom to worship without being labeled hateful. Freedom to reap the rewards of one\u2019s own labor. Freedom to be left alone. Freedom that will live always in the hearts of those who yearn for it. Value it. Cherish it. <\/p>\n

The seeds are sown, they have sprouted, the free forces of liberty will grow. They multiplied exponentially in the past year under the great Ron Paul. Soon, a new and younger leader will rise and take up the banner from his tired and faltering hands. <\/p>\n

It will be a long war, with many lost battles. Especially in the next two to four years. But the truth crushed to earth will rise again. Always has, always will. In the long term. Of not just years, or even decades, but generations. <\/p>\n

Those who refuse to bow the knee to Ba\u2019al will never surrender. <\/p>\n

And so, with real hope for genuine change and true freedom, we continue the endless slog through the long night that envelopes us, toward the distant promise of a new and shining dawn. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? —William Butler Yeats, \u201cThe Second Coming\u201d _________________________________________ The final weekend. It all closes in, the raging noise, the incessant campaign attack commercials on every channel, the rabble rousing threats of violence and rioting. It punctures every facet of one\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}