In a stunning rejection of Barack Obama and his presidency, and of the Democratic Party agenda, Republicans have been elected to a majority in the House of Representatives by an historic margin, apparently by a gain of over 60 seats, and narrowly missed winning a majority in the U.S. Senate. In an undeniable rebuke of New Left President Obama, the head of the Democratic Party lost what had been his Senate seat in corrupt, Democratic-controlled Illinois to Republican Mark Kirk, former congressman and former chief of staff to retired Congressman John Porter. Senator-elect Kirk, an environmentalist who has backtracked on those policies, is a pro-choice moderate who may lean to the right and bring the GOP closer to supporting secular government, capitalism, and a military offense against jihadists. If he wants to be a serious advocate for capitalism, individual rights, and defense, he would instantly be an appealing alternative to the bunch of mindless conservatives lined up for the presidential nomination in 2012, whether as a candidate or as a voice of reason.
Others to watch: Senator-elect Marco Rubio in Florida, who defied the Republican Party to win the nomination and defeated the Obama, Clinton, and Bush establishment, Kentucky’s new GOP senator, Christian libertarian Rand Paul, so far the only major Tea Party kook to win an election (Paul’s fellow religionists Angle, O’Donnell, and Paladino were all defeated), and California’s new Christian Governor-elect, former Jesuit Catholic seminarian Edmund “Jerry” Brown, who uses churches like Mel Gibson hustling blood porn to sell Brown’s peculiar brand of religious statism. Jerry Brown, part of the original rise of religion in U.S. politics in the 1970s with Baptist “born-again” fundamentalist Jimmy Carter, invoked God again in a rambling and egotistical victory speech. Watch for more God, tradition and religion in government. As an alternative, having lost its highest profile races partly due to their blatant proselytizing for religion in government, the Tea Party movement, which represents a rejection of Big Government, should oppose the mixture of religion and state.
Whatever else Tuesday’s election results may mean, the Tea Party movement clearly has the potential to shed its dingbats, to paraphrase Harry Binswanger, sponsor candidates who stand for man’s rights and capitalism, and restore the Republicans to the ideals of Lincoln, Jefferson, and reason. In the meantime, watch for strange, sudden alliances, power struggles, and a political shift in conflict from left/right to religious/secular. With the core principles of the GOP in play, a radically restructured Congress, and an overwhelmingly rejected but strikingly dishonest and divisive American president, it’s best to choose a side now; the battle has not yet begun.