Since the 2000 election, the nation had racked up a
record deficit. (The "deficit" is the amount of federal loss each year;
the national "debt" is the total amount the government owes to the
creditors, which is in the trillions of dollars.
Few wish to discuss that problem!) The nation
now has a $400 billion yearly deficit. That amounts to more than $1
billion a day that the U.S. Treasury has to borrow to pay the bills.
Massive numbers of jobs have been lost. Lots of
bankruptcies and corporation swindles have occurred. A steadily increasing
number of manufacturing jobs keep moving overseas.
Bush had led the nation into an increasingly
controversial war in Iraq. He promised it would cost no more than $50
billion a year; yet it is running at nearly three times that amount.
The nation is worried about medical care and social
security. Bush's administration had been the first, since Herbert
Hoover's, to preside over a simultaneous decline in payroll jobs and the
stock market.
Hollywood had put out a full-length movie (Fahrenheit
9/11), attacking Bush viciously--and it was a
motion picture which millions flocked to see. Every possible device, slur,
insinuation, and report--true and false--had
been trumpeted through the media against him.
On the evening of election day, fully 55% of voters
said the country was moving in the wrong direction. (But perhaps many of
them had gays and liberal judges in mind, not the Iraq war.) Only 49%
approved of the job the president was doing -And, in the past, anything
below 50% on an election day always meant the president would not be
reelected.
But Bush was relying on those who agreed with him
against abortion, did not want embryonic stem cell research, opposed gay
marriages, and feared a homosexual takeover of America. Even among his
associates who disagreed with him on one point or another, they sided with
him on so many issues that he had a 97% approval
rate within his party, which surpassed that which Ronald Reagan had.
It was moral values which were the deciding issues.
And, for Advent believers, the significance of that looms large.
Exit polls on Election Day showed that the top issue,
for all voters, was not Iraq (15%) or the economy (20%);-but it was moral
values (22%). Among those that voted for Bush, moral values ranked most
important among 75% of them. (hi contrast, only 18% of those who voted for
Kerry considered moral values the most important issue.)
The other crucial issue for those who voted for Bush was security and
terrorism. A full 85% of voters, concerned about either or both, voted for
Bush.
Very significantly, he won 76% of the Evangelical vote
and a majority among those who regularly attend religious services.
Another important issue which greatly helped propel
Bush to victory was the fact that 11 states including Ohio-had an
anti-gay-marriage measure on the ballot. Large numbers had gone to the
polls to vote against it. While they were in the voting booth, they voted
for Bush. In every one of those states, including Oregon, Americans voted
down the homosexual initiatives.
Then there was the decision by the Supreme Court in
Kerry's home state, Massachusetts, requiring gay unions. This only added
to the worries of conservative Americans who wondered what Kerry would do
if he gained the presidency.
Kerry attended mass, wore a crucifix, and claimed to be
a devout Catholic; yet his stated positions on gays and abortion caused a
majority of Catholics and 45% of the Hispanics to vote for Bush.
Because of the significance of this election, here are some additional
statistics:
$1.2 billion was spent on this presidential election.
If you add the House and Senate elections, it rises to $1.5 billion. $800
million of it was spent for TV ads. It was the first $1 billion-plus
campaign (up from roughly $600 million in 2000).
In 193,000 polling places, about 120 million Americans
voted. That was 15 million more than in 2000, with Bush winning over Kerry
by about 51% to 48.5%.
Among white males, Bush got 61% to Kerry's 38%. Married
women: 54% to 45%. Veterans: 57% to 42%. Once-a-week churchgoers: 58% to
41 %. Bush got a majority of married women and married mothers, whites,
white Christians, military families, and those who weekly attend religious
services.
(In contrast, Kerry's support came from single women,
working women, blacks, Hispanics, Jews, young voters, gays, lesbians,
pro-abortionists, and those who rarely or never attend religious
services.)
Kerry had the edge with African Americans: Kerry 89% to
Bush 11%. Hispanics: 55% to 42%. First time
voters: 54% to 45%. Not married: 59% to 40%.
Because of the American publics fear about the dramatic
slippage of values, they not only reelected Bush,-but they also swept many
other Republicans into office. The whole thing was a stunning loss for the
Democrats.
In Utah and North Dakota, Republican governors kept
their seats. In Indiana and Missouri, Republicans replaced Democratic
governors. There are now Republican governors in a majority of the states:
28 of the 50.
Both in the House and Senate, there was a decided
increase in Republicans. In the Senate, there are now 55 Republicans (an
increase of 4) to 45 Democrats. (The exact amount of Republican Increase
in the House is still not known at the time of this writing.)
The fact that Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle was
replaced by a young Republican, John Thune, was deeply significant.
Daschle previously had served four terms in the House and three in the
Senate, had brought lots of money and favors (called "pork") to his home
state, and would have continued to do so. But, in the Senate, he had led
out in blocking every attempt of President Bush to have conservative
judges approved.
This fact was of crucial importance; for it is only the
Senate, not the House, which approves new federal judges and Supreme Court
justices. Daschle had been the first Senate party chief to be ousted, at
the polls, in 52 years. It is obvious that the people of South Dakota
wanted conservatives elected as judges. Over $25
million was spent by both parties on that one election. Thune, who does
not drink or smoke, is against abortion and the gay agenda.
As election day drew near, in the vice president
candidates' debate, John Edwards made a point of mentioning that Dick
Cheney's daughter was a lesbian. That uncalled-for statement, which
brought grief to the hearts of Dick Cheney and his wife, revealed the
character of Edwards. During his single term in the Senate, according to
his voting record, Edwards was known to be more liberal in his votes
than any other Democrat except Ted Kennedy. So much so, that he had
not run for a second term because North Carolina voters were disgusted
with his pro-abortion, pro-gay positions. You will run into him again in
the forthcoming presidential elections.
A few days later, about 30 minutes into the third
debate between Kerry and Bush, Kerry was asked by moderator Bob Schieffer,
of CBS, whether he thought homosexuality was a matter of choice or birth.
In reply, Kerry immediately focused on the fact that Cheney's gay
daughter, Mary, was a lesbian. This was entirely inappropriate, before an
audience of millions around the world.
Prior to that final debate, Republican pollster Ed
Goeas had collected five Republicans, five Democrats, and five
independents with instant response switches. Prior to that remark, a
majority favored Kerry; but, as soon as he deliberately made that
statement, a "huge negative reaction" occurred. From then on, the 15
people were suspicious of everything Kerry said and interpreted it in a
negative light. When the debate was over, 11 of the 15 cast sample votes
for Bush. Kerry thought the studied remark would encourage more immoral
people to go to the polls and vote; but it only helped solidify the
Christians. Making the situation worse, Kerry's closest campaign adviser,
Mary Beth Cahill, afterward excused the remark, saying that Mary Cheney
was "fair game," as though she were just an animal to be chased down and
killed.
The press did not report that, a few sentences later,
Kerry said, "God made homosexuals the way they are." (I personally heard
speeches by all four Democratic presidential candidates at a major
homosexual political gathering in the northeast prior to the Iowa primary.
Each one promised to do great things for the gays if elected.)
After that third debate between Bush and Kerry, only
three weeks remained. The two sides were hardening in their attitudes; and
Christians all over America were becoming determined that they must keep
Kerry from winning.
All along, the Republicans predicted they would beat
the Democrats in the final 72 hours because the Democrats were relying on
hired help ; whereas the republicans were using volunteers to encourage
people to vote. Most of those volunteers were Protestants and Catholics.
Throughout the year, everyone who came to a local
Republican campaign office was asked to volunteer. Only those who did were
permitted to shake hands with the president, when he later passed through
the area. The volunteers worked the phone banks and went from door-to-door
in the neighborhoods.
The Republican National Committee had set strict
(constantly updated) "turnout targets" for every one of the nations
193,000 voting precincts. As he traveled the country with Bush, Rove
received detailed briefings from field lieutenant / sales reps.
In the final weeks, the Democrats finally began working
in earnest to get liberals to the polls. They hired poll watchers and
drivers to get their people to the polling places.
Traditionally, the Democrats could count on labor
unions to organize the most effective get-out-the-vote
operations. Republicans had always relied largely on unpaid volunteers,
housewives, grandmothers, small businessmen, and retirees.
Day after day, republican helpers phoned and went to
homes, urging the importance of the conservative vote. Meanwhile, the
liberal press was printing articles on the large numbers of Democrats that
were being urged to come out and vote, and downplaying what the
Republicans were accomplishing.
Then, on Friday, October 29, Osama bin Laden decided to ruin Bush's
chance for reelection-by putting out a video, attacking him and declaring
that AlQaeda would crush America. But that only helped Bush's campaign.
Geographically, Bush won the South, the Plains, and the
Mountain States. If you look at a state-by-state
map, you discover that Bush won the electoral votes of every state
except:
A cluster in the Northeast: Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Deleware, Maryland,
and the District of Columbia.
A cluster in the West: California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii.
But if you look at a county map, nearly all of America
voted for Bush-including most of the territory in the above-named states.
The only exceptions were the large urban areas, which had many voters.
Most of the counties in every state voted for
Bush, with the exception of six states in the far northeast, in which
nearly all the counties voted almost entirely for Kerry: Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
George W Bush defeated John F Kerry by more than 3
million popular votes and 34 in the Electoral College. Bush received more
popular votes than any other president in U.S. history-four million more
than Reagan received. And moral issues was the primary reason.
He became the first son of a president to win
reelection. (John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, lost his run for a
second term to Andrew Jackson in 1828.)
Two factors, above all others, stand out as
the causes of Bush's victory; and the two blend into one:
First, a majority in the nation voted for "moral
values" instead of, as the press had predicted, for economy, antiwar
issues, and a variety of other urgent concerns.
Second. Karl Roves single-minded goal throughout
the campaign: Get 4 million more Evangelical voters to the polls than in
2000.
Never before in American history had an election like this occurred,
when one party solidly stood in support of several (but not all) Christian
principles while the other vigorously defended anti-Christian policies.
Yet it is now a week later and the Democrats are
totally unable to face reality. They talk about "reaching America's
heartland" with "more economic help"; they declare that their loss was
merely a flux and had nothing to do with morals. They will not accept the
fact that there are any other "values" than "take-home-pay values." They
dare not abandon abortion and gay-rights issues; because these are major
power bases, of the liberals, which comprise the party.
What does all this tell us about the possibility of a full-blown U.S.
National Sunday Law ahead of us:
First, it can be done. Second, it will probably be the
Republicans who will do it. Third, the Republicans were desperate to find
ways to cement their popularity with as many conservatives as possible.
Eventually, they will hit on the one party plank which will win the most
voters.
Nothing would unite Protestants, Catholics, blacks, and
Hispanics as much as the supposed "moral value" of a National Sunday Law.
Even the labor unions would gladly climb on board. The ecologists would
see in it a way to reduce pollution; and health advocates would proclaim
It a great help in reducing physical innervation in our modem world.
A National Sunday Law could either be suddenly sprung
on the nation in the middle of a presidential term or it could be the
pivotal part of the party platform to bring a party to victory in a
forthcoming presidential election.
The placement of conservative appointments to the U.S.
Supreme Court by a Republican president would remain important. All
that would be needed would be a solid five conservatives willing to
maintain a 5-4 vote in crucial areas of concern.
It is believed that Bush will fill at least two, and
possibly three (maybe four), vacancies in the next four years. Chief
Justice William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas are the
three current conservative justices. And Rehnquist is currently being
treated for thyroid cancer. That is not a favorable situation.
Political experts say that Bush will only have 18
months in which to push through any radically new legislation. Then the
battle over the next election will begin. But a National Sunday Law could
be one of the party planks to bring success. -vf
During my research for this article, I came across a fabulous report
on events during the entire election campaign: pages 35 to 127 In the
November 15, 2004, issue of Newsweek. It is extremely revealing.