There exists on the right an almost unprecedented urgency about the upcoming election. That this is the most important election of our lives has become almost a truism among constitutionalists.
But like so many other things in life, we can tend to become insulated from the broader spectrum of our endeavors, and fail to see, or at least recognize, what those on the other side really think. And the truth is that the left believes even more strongly that this is the most important election of their lives.
Think about it. The left has more at stake than we do. For if Romney wins, it is hardly a guarantee that we will restore the essence of the constitutional republic consistent with not just the founders’ vision but the very basis of American greatness and distinctiveness. But if Obama wins, it is virtually a guarantee that we will be a very different nation than the one in which we grew up. For we will have affirmed not just the policies and priorities, but the leftist worldview of the incumbent, and if for no other reason than the assurance that Obamacare will be cemented as a permanent fixture in American life – it is virtually impossible to strip away an entrenched entitlement – we will have in effect irreversibly chosen to complete our transformation to a social democracy.
And while we tend to demonize Obama, he is not the issue so much as the tens of millions of people who would vote for him. After all, for those listening to what he actually said and studying his ingrained belief system rather than what he represented in his Rorschach candidacy, then-Sen. Obama stated passionately during the 2008 campaign that he sought to transform America, and as his policies continue to create razor-sharp ideological fault lines while disappointing the hard-core left for their failure to revive a deeply troubled economy, he has become little more than a proxy for a European-style vision of America.
But the larger point is this: the left understands that in a center-right nation – most reliable polls show self-identified conservatives outnumber liberals by about two to one – this is their last, best hope for transformation, because the extraordinary combination of forces that conspired to bring Obama to power four years ago – a financial meltdown, unpopular incumbent, weak election opponent, the opportunity presented by the first serious black presidential candidate and inspiring orator – will never present themselves again. They believe, and rightfully so, that in the words of the Seals & Crofts song, they may never pass this way again.
At the same time, Mitt Romney, while a servicable candidate, has hardly inspired any passion. After all, the most common refrain among those who will vote for him is not that we must elect him, but that we must take down Obama. In the end, Romney is, like Obama, merely a proxy, the only available choice for those desperate to reverse a century-long march down the road to serfdom.
Indeed, neither side is thrilled with their candidate, but the president actually hits the nail on the head in his latest spot, running ad nauseum during the Olympics. In it, he looks straight into the camera and says to voters…you have a choice that could not be bigger.
And in the end, that choice really has little to do with either him or Romney.
