Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

Senator Kerry has already conceded by phone to President Bush. I awaited his on-air speech, but it has been delayed another hour. I believe, as I wrote earlier today, that this is in his own, and our country’s best interest. It eliminates all the possible nasty outcomes I had personally envisioned. I’m sure there are some in his advisory circle who advised against it.

And this is what we now need to try and overcome. The “Bush was selected, not elected” crowd needs to sit down and shut up. A strong display of resolve at this point will have tremendous effect in the larger world. A united United States has the strength, power, and morality of no other nation on Earth. And it can be channeled to do good things if it can be channeled. And that is the challenge.

For those who saw their candidate lose, take heart that those of us who supported Dubya are not right-wing religious fanatics out to destroy everything you hold dear.

I’ve read several things today that indicate many feel the religious right have taken control of the GOP. The only way I can see that even being a consideration is that Bush attends church and lives his faith. If you mean anti-abortion and gay marriage, understand that most Americans believe abortion is bad, but shouldn’t be illegal, and that most Americans are unconcerned about whether two men or two women live together. If they oppose gay marriage, they don’t necessarily oppose civil unions. There is nothing fanatic about that. You may think they’re stupid, but that doesn’t make them fanatics.

And I’ve also read much about “negative campaigning”. That means different things to different people. To me, telling the truth about someone’s record is not negative campaigning. Making things up about someone is. And I don’t care which candidate or organization does either of those two. Which one did the first, and which did the second? You decide.

For what it’s worth, I think both parties have moved too far left toward socialism. I’m considering the Constitution Party for the next cycle. I would support the Libertarians, but they really care nothing about defending our borders or our interests overseas. They might be better thought of as the Hedonism Party. But my point is that our government was established with limited power over the lives of our citizens. I think we should follow our Constitution, which is what a constitution is for, and change it as necessary. But there is a procedure for doing that. Let’s follow it. The Federal Government can do anything the Constitution allows. Nothing more. And anything the government gets involved in causes someone to lose some of their freedom.

The best thing Kerry can say today is that he is moving to support this President in his efforts to eliminate the threat of terrorist attacks, and to build a strong representative governments in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Saying that, he is still free to disagree with implementation, but sends a signal to our enemies that the campaign is over, and they need to fish or cut bait. Ditto our world neighbors.

I hope he does.