In the most negative campaign ever
run by an incumbent President, the 44th President of the United
States held on to the White House as half the country went to bed Tuesday night
knowing the man they trusted to turn the economy around was still at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue.
In Liberty County the impact of
Barack Obama being at the top of the local voters ballots was not quite so
positive for local Democrats. More than three out of every four voters voted
for Mitt Romney as Obama set the county record for the lowest percentage vote
for any incumbent or for any Democrat or Republican.
For years many of Liberty County
voters have said “I vote for the man, not the party”. And for years elected
officials thought that they had some great personal magnetism or a brilliant
strategy or that voters recognized their special talents and abilities. Some
ridiculed local Republican candidates who fared poorly in the polls. But the
evidence is in. Local Democrats were beaten every bit as badly as Republicans
were just a few years ago. People did not go down the ballot and “vote for the
man” as much as some tried to claim.
What does this say to us? First we
must point out that KSHN radio after all of these years finally came out with a
little campaign of their own to discourage straight ticket voting. It would
have been perceived as fair and balanced to have done that when Republicans had
a 100 year losing streak! But back to the point – what does it say?
A political candidate’s first
decision is choosing the party he or she will run in. To many voters in what is
known as the Bible belt, this decision is becoming increasingly important as
Democrats have embraced same sex marriage, liberal laws governing abortion, and
an attitude of “ask not what you can do for your country, but ask what your
country can do for you.”
The same local Democrats that seemed
invincible as they held office for years were easily beaten tonight. The party
they ran in was a major reason for most of their defeats. Todd Fontenot, Lee
Groce, and Phil Fitzgerald, all Democrats, were called an "evil
empire" by their fellow Democrat Commissioner Melvin Hunt. But despite
Hunt’s efforts to separate himself from the entire stench of recent local
scandals around the courthouse, he could not overcome his party affiliation
with Obama and his lack of effort to stop what he clearly recognized as “evil”.
All of the money wasting and politically partisan game
playing were seldom challenged. Connie Henderson working for Democrats and
receiving a county check was never made an issue. Bond money and ever rising
property appraisals was never an issue. So Melvin is defeated too.
Tonight in this country Barack Obama
was re-elected. And now most voters in Texas will have to depend on God and the
Republican dominated House of Representatives to protect us from someone who
has indicated he thinks he can improve on the outdated ideas in the U.S.
Constitution. But also tonight in this county Liberty County has been totally
emancipated from more than a century of one party dominance. We are now
electing people from a party that polls show are more in line with the values
of the people in this area. Now all we have to do is be vigilante and keep from
allowing the corrupt from getting a toe hold in this party.
