The election results from last week left a number of Conservatives bewildered. A common phrase plastered all over the internet was “what just happened?” After having a week to digest the sequence of events, my analysis is a bit different from many popularists.

Election players: the Users

On one hand we have the “Users” (commonly known as the Democratic Party). Their main political philosophy is “give to get.” They have aptly discovered that instant gratification trumps the road to real recovery. Thus, they have developed this discovery into a new art form. So in every election, they give all kinds of goodies away to get votes. The ends justify the means. And to be honest, it’s worked for them and the putative president quite well. After all, how can someone promising the masses the chance to work compete with someone who is promising them a good life without having to work?

There’s not much more to say about this philosophy except that it is short-sighted and doomed and has left those who can think beyond the nose on their faces scratching their heads.

Election players: Dead Men Walking

On the other hand we have the “Dead Men Walking” crowd (commonly known as the Republican Party). Their political philosophy can best be defined as crony capitalism. The basis of their philosophy is founded on preserving their power base at all cost and crushing all newcomers. It’s not that they have determined to be a Good Old White Boys Club; it’s just that’s the nature of their beast. They’re not racists; just power-crazed.

Election Dead Men Walking: Pennsylvania

For example, in the once great state of Pennsylvania, David Christian ran in the Republican primary against substantially underwhelming candidates. Christian, the country’s most decorated veteran, has an impressive resume going back to the Reagan days – yet he lost the primary to the Governor’s protégé – an occurrence that repeated itself in New Jersey.

Here are some of David’s election campaign details. David needed 2000 signatures to be on the ballot. He turned in around 3100. He was the only one of five candidates to have his petitions challenged. By the time they were done, he had slightly under 3000 valid signatures. But his challenge defense wiped out his campaign funds and stuck a dagger in his campaign. I don’t know the exact cost, but the attorney he used was a friend, and it still cost him over $30,000 and he lost at least 3 weeks of campaign time.

When he finally won the case, the state GOP insisted he wait a week to release the results. The GOP threatened that if he announced sooner they would drag him back into court and contest the ruling in his favor.

The major complaint was that people signed with their nicknames instead of their given names. The names they complained about were names like Margaret, Richard, Michele, Steven, Robert etc.

Also in Pennsylvania, the Constitution Party presidential ticket of Virgil Goode and Jim Clymer were likewise challenged. Not being able to spend the funds to fight the case in court and run a nationwide campaign, Clymer and Goode made the decision not to have their names on the Pennsylvania ballot. The Republican establishment candidate in PA won the primary but predictably lost the general election.

Election Dead Men Walking: New Jersey

Bader Qarmout, candidate for the US Senate from NJ, meets and greets well-wishers at the home of Nick Lally in Green Township, NJ. Photo: CNAV.

New Jersey isn’t much better. In the Republican primary for the senate, Tea Party endorsed candidate Bader Qarmout (who was first and foremost a Republican) was mercilessly smeared by the establishment machine. In this instance, Governor Christie’s longtime friend, State Senator Joe Kyrillos, was the Party’s clear choice. Kyrillos’ most noteworthy achievement in 25 years of public office is his relationship with Governor Christie. Ironically, challenger Bader Qarmout authored a realistic and practical plan addressing Immigration Reform, which has proven to be the Republican Party’s Achilles’ heel. By the way, Kyrillos lost to the incumbent, Senator Menendez, by a whopping 18%. In a sense this still represents a win for the Republican Party in NJ in that they managed to crush the outsider. Deciding who the better candidate was never was an issue in NJ. Whom you know was and is.

The User and the Dead Man Walking for President

In the presidential race we saw the ultimate accomplishments of these two political philosophies play out before our very eyes – an accomplished User and the Dead Men Walking candidate. When pitting an accomplished User against a Dead Man Walking, the results shouldn’t have surprised anyone. You see a “User” couldn’t be a “User” if he or she wasn’t convincing; and a Dead Man Walking will have a hard time convincing anyone of anything.

Who lost this election is abundantly clear – it wasn’t Mitt Romney; it was the American people. Unless we demand better in the future, you can be sure that the Users will continue their winning strategy and the Dead Men Walking will continue theirs, and America will continue to lose.

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