Next week’s election is quite possibly the last chance for the great American experiment. The notions of limited government, personal responsibility, and the civil society imagined by our founding fathers are on the verge of final collapse. Why? As President John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Our population has moved so far away from this ideal that it may be impossible to recover.
This is personified by the rise of such voters as the Obamaphone Lady. The surprising part is not that she would sell her vote, but that the price would be so low. The existence of citizens like her points to the absolute failure (and corruption) of the civic education of the American population. Rush Limbaugh described this sentiment best, saying, “So these are the people that don’t like Romney because of what he said about 47 percent? No, these are the 47 percent!… She knows. She knows how to get this free Obama phone. She knows everything about it. She may not know who George Washington is or Abraham Lincoln, but she knows how to get an Obama phone.” The unnamed Obamaphone Lady personifies the 47% Romney spoke of. The candidate was widely criticized for this “gaffe”, but the sub- stance of his comment is correct. 47% is exactly where the incumbent stands in the polls as of October 30.
This group is not merely made up of those dependent on the government as Romney suggested, but is a coalition of government dependents and their idealistic enablers. After Obama’s objectively disastrous term, and facing as vanilla and unobjectionable a Republican as Romney, these 47 percent are sticking by Democrat ideals. If they cannot be converted in this election, with the economy, foreign relations, and social cohesion this bad, they never will.
If the Obama reign has been insufficient, no presidency and no events will ever be enough to allow a widespread reverse of liberal indoctrination.
This trend has been worsening since the days of the Great Depression. Our current state has followed from an endless string of policies and regulations that have corrupted the minds and souls of the citizenry for the benefit of those temporary leaders and guardians of our society—politicians. Now, the progressive dream is on the verge of having more popular support than the American dream.
All of this though, was predicted centuries ago. Benjamin Franklin said, “When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” He was echoed by Alexis de Tocqueville, the first outside analyzer of the American system: “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” More than 200 years later, have we finally reached the point where those who would vote only in their selfish interests outnumber those who vote with the future good in mind?
If Obama wins this election, it will signify that the 47% has become more than 50%, and that the permanent descent into soft tyranny has begun. The Democratic creation of and subsequent dominance, race- baiting, and demagoguery of the country’s demographic shift ensures this. Conservatives will be a minority in our own land, prevented by the nanny state from living the way we want
in the country we created. If Romney wins, there is still time to postpone Franklin’s prediction. There will still be time to answer the challenge of Samuel Adams: “If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.”
Noah Kantro is a junior in the College of Engineering. He can be reached nk366@cornell.edu.