My Reaction to the Democrats' Big Election Night: Trying to Stay Positive

Wow.  I am in shock and bewilderment the President was re-elected and the Senate retained for Democrats (I think they may have even gained a seat or two).  I greatly fear the looming consequences of Obamacare, a sputtering economy, reduced religious liberty, the fiscal cliff, and additional calamity, all descending ominously upon the greatest nation on earth.

I thought the voting electorate would be about D+0 or even R+1.  Looks like Gallup and Rasmussen both missed the mark, or perhaps the Obama turnout machine simply revved up the engine beyond belief.

While I am filled with anxiety about the future of our country for the next four years and even after (can Obamacare and the government takeover of health care ever be reversed, now?), I take solace in knowing I determine how happy I will be.

In my view, our country is going down a very dark and disastrous path.  Perhaps the ultimate outcome is more and more people will be forced to choose between God and Mammon.  Again, my level of happiness and optimism is up to me.  Said President Thomas S. Monson, "Your future is as bright as your faith."

You might want to watch this message from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf on resolutions and regrets, below.  Here is a brief excerpt:

"The older we get, the more we look back and realize that external circumstances don’t really matter or determine our happiness.

"We do matter. We determine our happiness.

"You and I are ultimately in charge of our own happiness . . .

"Let us resolve to be happy, regardless of our circumstances."

May we do so, and may God bless the United States!

What I Said Was, "We Need to Stand Behind Them"

Cross-posted from my Google+ account.

Riiiiiight.  In other words, just pretend I didn't say, "[they] didn't build that" or ever so subtly imply they're not paying enough in taxes (their "fair share") or that their success came from Government infrastructure (oh, and let's ignore they paid for that infrastructure, anyway).

Here's the full and glorious context of how he's "always struck" at the egotism of people who take credit for their own, hard-earned success (again, this coming from the world's greatest orator and Nobel Peace Prize winner who won because he wasn't Bush):

"There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back.  They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.  You didn’t get there on your own.  I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.  There are a lot of smart people out there.  It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.  Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.  (Applause.)

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.  Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

"The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.  There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own.  I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service.  That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires."

Yep, there's the real ticket to American economic success:  Re-elect the One, have small business owners team up with government bureaucrats to help them put out any economic fires they have or may encounter and make sure these business owners pay their fair share (read: more) in taxes (because they're not paying enough for those roads, bureaucrats, or firefighters).

Oh yeah, what's another quote of President Obama recently "taken out of context" about American business/the economy?  "We tried our plan and it worked."  (Except for that whole promise about keeping unemployment under 8% and the country struggling through its worst economic recovery since the Great Depression.)  I want to hear him argue this quote was taken out of context and that his plan didn't work -- at least we'd be getting somewhere.