A country NOT divided

Here's a concept: We're not all that divided, we're pretty much united--around Republican ideas and principles. Here's the evidence, as found over at Polipundit.

1. The Republican president just won over 50 percent for the first time in 16 years. He won more raw votes than anyone ever has, including Reagan.

2. The GOP has 55 senators.

3. The GOP has over 230 House members.

4. There are at least 28 Republican governors, including those of the 4 largest states.

5. The majority of state legislators and legislatures are Republican.

6. The GOP has just performed miracles, like ousting a Senate caucus leader for the first time since 1952, and getting a Republican senator elected from Louisiana for the first time ever.

Tough to argue with.

Even in the states Kerry won, like California, Bush did very well: 44% to Kerry's 55%. In most of states that Bush won, however, he won them by a landslide, sometimes by 20 to 30 percentage points. States like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan were very close, that close, to a Bush win.

The thing that the Democrats can't accept is that they are losing the arguments over ideas. They cannot wrap their minds around the fact that majority of the country actually agrees with conservative principles. They can't fathom the notion that perhaps the "Right" is, in fact, "right" on the issues.

For them, it's far easier to indulge in crazy tin-foil hat theories about stolen elections and the evil Karl Rove than to deal with the reality that people don't agree with them. Michele Catalano puts it very well today.

What I truly wish for the Dems is a vibrant party, a true alternative to the Republicans, because that's good for a democracy.

However, my Democratic and liberal friends, to get there, this is what I think you must do:

Disavow Michael Moore and all his works. While you're at it, kiss Hollywood good-bye, too.

Regain your soul on the moral issues: become pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-traditional morality. In other words, recant on the sexual revolution. It failed. It produced a host of social problems in the name of liberty, because it really was just licentiousness.

Hold tight to the principles you historically held: equal rights, social justice (but again with the caveat that social justice begins with the right to life), representing the interests of working people.

Offer some viable alternatives on international affairs, and discard the tired, decades-old pacifism of the likes of Kerry and Carter, which history has shown to be not only ineffective but actually deleterious to the cause of peace and freedom. Recognize that there is plenty of room for both parties to hold to the same principles while offering different strategies and methods.

Continue to advocate for tolerance of all ideas, while truly becoming tolerant of those different from your own. For example, Christianity. Please stop being both terrified of Christians, and at the same time condescending toward them.

That's a start.