Republicans: It's Gonna Be Okay

Republicans: You now have two choices for the next four years.  You can find common ground with your fellow Americans and work toward a future we can all enjoy, or you can be whiny little bitches.

You're going to have to accept that your guy lost, and he lost fair and square.  There wasn't voter fraud, people didn't misunderstand the issues, they were well aware of both Obama's accomplishments and his failures.  Americans are well aware of the economic situation.  Part of it was Obama ran a better campaign.  Yes it included negativity, but so did Romney's.  Let's be honest, Romney was never a very strong candidate.  He would have advanced your conservative agenda, but he never had resonance outside his own party.

You'll have time for plenty of post-mortems, but here are a few lessons I hope you'll take away:

Forget the Tea Party

Tea Party candidates lost several important senate races, where the "establishment" GOP candidate probably would have won.  The Tea Party also blocked the budget deal that Boehner supported.  I know the Tea Party is "fun" because it has a crazy energy that the GOP hasn't had in decades, but it's bad for this country.  Having the federal government run out of money isn't actually a good idea.  I'd like to believe that politics actually matter and that it's not all just a big game.  At some point you have to actually govern.  Mainstream Republicans like Boehner know how to do that.  I don't agree with his politics, but I respect the man.  The Tea Party has damaged the GOP and you need to cut 'em loose.

"More Conservatism" Isn't the Solution

Romney's problem wasn't that he wasn't conservative enough, even though Fox News pudits are already saying it.  I'm going to put the next sentence in bold because it's important.  Not everyone in the country is like you.  There are lots of people who actually want a liberal agenda.  What did Romney do to convince them to vote for him?

More importantly, look at who actually lives in this country.  Never mind illegal immigration, I'm just talking about actual citizens.  In California, white men are already the minority.  If the GOP keeps alienating women, blacks, and Latinos, how do you think you're going to win?  You need to broaden your message.  That means become more moderate.  They used to say the GOP was the "big tent" party, but I don't see it any more.

I know a lot of Conservative people who are women.  Obviously you see something in the party that appeals to you.  But you need to recognize that most women in this country don't agree with you when it comes to abortion, birth control, and rape.  That's why the vast majority of women in this country voted for Obama.  If you want to change that, you're going to have to moderate your platform.

Liberals are Not Stupid

I've already been seeing a lot of this on Facebook.  We're not stupid, we're not ignorant, we're not blind.  We see exactly what's going on.  We know what happened in Bengazi.  We also know what happened in Abadabad.  We know what happened in Detroit and on Wall Street.  We see how many people have jobs and how many don't.  We see how much oil drilling has happened under Obama, and how much money the government has spent on subsidies to different industries, both green and non-green.  We see how much we get taxed and where that money goes.  We're also very well aware of what it says in the bible.

If we disagree with you, it's not because we're stupid or don't get it or don't know what's going on.  It's because we have a different idea of what we want this country to be.  We're not Communist, we're not Socialist, we sure as hell aren't Fascist, and we didn't hate America.  We're not Muslim (at least not most of us), we're not morally bankrupt.  We see the same things you do; we just see different solutions.

Liberals are Not Communists

Obama is not going to turn America into Cuba.  I'm going to repeat this because it's important.

Obama is not going to turn America into Cuba.

You can have health care reform and still be a capitalist democracy.  In fact that's how most capitalist democracies work.  Yes we're the greatest nation on earth, but that doesn't mean it can't get better.  You have your ideas of how to make America better, and so do we.

Remember that our Democrat president spent billions of dollars helping private corporations, most notably the auto industry.  If a Republican president had done it, you would have crowed triumphantly about how pro-business he was.  How about a little intellectual honesty here?  The result: we've got a capitalist system that works better than ever.  Every Republican agrees that we need SOME regulations; the only disagreement is over how much.  That debate should not be filled with bitter emotions.

Obama Will Not be Impeached

When Nancy Pelosi because Speaker in 2006, a lot of Democrats started talking about impeaching Bush.  We probably could have done it too, and we certainly had ample grounds.  At least as good as any claim you could make against Obama.  But instead of partisan vitriol, Pelosi decided to govern.  She was one of the most effective Speakers of the modern era.  That's what you get when you stop playing partisan games and focus on making this country better.  The House has voted to repeal Obamacare 30 times.  How about offering some real solutions to our problems?

Bottom line, you lost the popular vote.  Are you going to cheat your way into defeating Obama?

Bottom Line: It Won't be That Bad

This country is not going to hell.  It's not the End Times.  Obama is not a dictator.  He's trying his best, just like Bush did before him.  I did not like Bush, but I recognized his patriotism.  He was handed a really tough situation - probably the toughest that an American president has had in 60 years - and he did his best.  I respect the effort, just like I respected Reagan before him.  Obama, likewise, is a loyal American who will try to do his best for this country.  Let's look at some accomplishments that Republicans can appreciate:

• He bailed out Wall Street.  For all your ham-handed attempts at populism, the truth is you guys like Wall Street.  So stop complaining.
• Same with the auto industry.
• Bin Laden is dead.
• Kaddafi is dead, without a single American casualty.
• We have the health care plan that the Republicans proposed in the 90's the same plan that Romney enacted as governor.  There is no socialized medicine; it's all still private corporations.  In fact, those corporations are going to have more customers than they ever did before.  Aren't you guys supposed to like it when businesses make money?
• Even Chris Christie praised Obama's handling of Hurricaine Sandy.  It was a major natural disaster and the president handled it well.  That deserves praise.

In addition, you guys still control the House and the Supreme Court.  Nothing will get passed in this country unless you guys are on board with it.  That means we're not going to have socialized medicine, we're not going to stop drilling for oil or digging for coal, tobbaco will not be outlawed, military spending will remain high.  You guys claim to care about balancing the budget, so let's do it.  But you're going to have to meet us halfway.  We're not going to get everything we want, but neither are you.

So please, no more talk about how stupid liberals are or insults against our Commander in Chief.  I know your boy Boehner is a pragmatist who knows how to strike a bargain and get things done.  So get behind your boy and I'll get behind mine and let's make this country great.  Politicians only do what people want them to.  Bipartisanship starts with you.