WASHINGTON, D.C. -- HOPE: That's what Republicans across Washington, D.C., were feeling as they sweated in the hot sun, passing out pamphlets until the very last hour at the polling sites. It's what they felt while they sat in D.C. bars and watched state after state colored red on any of the numerous channel'smaps of the country. And it's what the capital's Republicans, along with the rest of the nation's GOP felt as first Fox and then NBC declared Ohio a Bush victory. Contingent on the possible count of the provisional ballots in the next few days, it is a hope the Republican Party will carry with them for the next four years.
Not only do the Republicans look likely to hold on to the White House, they also held on to their majority in the Senate and House and won a few governors' seats along the way. In the world of politics, that is a huge win -- a win full of hope.
The next four years will make or break the Democratic Party. A loss in the 2008 presidential election and failure to regain control -- or even a single seat -- in either the House or the Senate would almost surely deal an irrecoverable blow to the party.
In that do we find the Republicans' hope.
The liberal left in this country has long been more outspoken than the right -- Michael Moore dominates the movie theaters, Jon Stewart delivers fake news with, yes, a partisan twist and celebrity after celebrity lines up to shake John Kerry's hand and denounce the president to whomever will give them air time or a magazine cover.
Even among youth demographics, it's automatically assumed that the majority of the MTV Generation are card-carrying members of the Democratic Party.
What we are seeing with this election, though, is quite a different story. Explaining what this means on CNN, Larry King said it the best: "The people have spoken."
Liberal messages from every aspect of American culture -- from "That's my Bush" on TV to "American Idiot" on the radio -- bombard the people with the idea that President Bush's presidency was not only a fraud and an embarrassment, but also that this is a common sentiment throughout the nation.
A common sentiment, though, that somehow was lost in the voting booth as American after American participated in his or her democracy and re-selected a conservative president. Or maybe it never even existed.
Today's election results are indicative of the true nature of the United States -- that we are a conservative nation full of a moralistic population that cherishes their deepest held values over all else.
And it's time -- and finally something the Republicans can hope for -- that Americans let this be known.
Conservatives must no longer just be the silent majority. In order to improve our party and ensure that the right decisions for America are being made, we must be vocal.
Don't mistake this as a cry for conservatives to rise up and decry their liberal neighbors. It is not. Rather, it's a plea that conservatives no longer sit back and let the liberals be the only mouthpiece for the American social thought.
Write letters to your paper. Attend pro-Bush rallies. And don't just sit silently by while those around you bash the president and his initiatives with which you agree.
One Washington, D.C., poll worker sporting a Bush/Cheney sticker today stated that while she was "proud" to be a Republican, she feared speaking up in class because she thought no one would agree with her and that the backlash would be horrific. But look at the numbers.
The majority of Americans support the conservative agenda. The majority of Americans support this president -- in even greater numbers than they did in 2000. And the majority of Americans are quite proud of it.
The next four years will certainly be tough -- the war on terror continues, as does inner turmoil over the economy, health insurance and other domestic issues.
But Republicans, led by Bush, have a great opportunity to fulfill the hopes of their party as well as this nation. Hopefully, those who voted for him will have the courage now to stand tall and support him through the next term.
Maggie Bowden is a Cavalier Daily Opinion editor. She can be reached at mbowden@cavalierdaily.com. She was in Washington, D.C., for Election Day.
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