When things started looking bleak on the morning of November 4th, conservatives held tightly to one comfort: At least we have the Senate. Two long and punishing months later, even that consolation is slipping away. Pro-lifers -- despite truly incredible gains in the House -- are on the verge of two tough years in the minority in both chambers of the U.S. Congress. It isn't the script any of us would have written for the country we love. But as those of us who've lived through the long arc of this movement know: it isn't the closing chapter either.
Disappointment has been a familiar friend to a lot of Americans these last several weeks. More than anything, we just want something to go our way -- a court case, a congressional challenge, a win. With the November election, and again this week in Georgia, a win for the pro-life movement didn’t materialize. But if it doesn't, this isn't the end. Not by a long shot. Are there harsh realities in store for our country? No question about it. But it's how we respond -- as believers and as Americans -- that will ultimately decide this nation's fate. Not a new president, new House, or new Senate.
Success, Winston Churchill reminded people, is not final. Failure is not fatal. It stings -- but it should also motivate. Conservatives, remember, have been here before. The most recent time, in 2009, the political hole was much deeper. More than a decade ago, when President Barack Obama was sworn in, Democrats controlled both chambers of 27 state legislatures. Eight years later, that number was cut in half to 13. And Obama may have ushered in a 60-seat majority in the Senate and a 257-seat majority in the House, but two years later, he lost 63 of those House seats to Republicans -- and by his second term, both chambers were taken over by the GOP. In politics, nothing is forever.
Progressives can -- and will certainly try -- to pull America to the radical Left with whatever majority they have. But this isn't 2009. There are no blank checks for Joe Biden to fundamentally transform America. As Politico pointed out, even if Jon Ossoff (D) wins out, "The party's control in both the House and Senate would be so tenuous that just a handful of House Democrats and even a single Senate Democrat could tank a bill." Biden's agenda, they warn, "won't be without roadblocks."
One of those roadblocks will be the Democratic Party itself. An internal struggle is brewing -- the fierce push and pull between moderates and the far-Left wing. Already this morning, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) were out with their list of demands, an outrageous grab bag of extremism from free college tuition, "repro[ductive] justice," and climate action to D.C. statehood, socialized medicine, and outlawing the death penalty. Their socialist support will salivate at the ideas, but cooler heads, if there are any, will remind them that what happened Tuesday doesn't negate what happened November 3rd when Americans rejected the House's radical leftward lurch. With just 11 seats to her advantage (or possibly 10 when NY-22 is finally called), Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will be leading from the weakest Democratic majority since World War II.
Senator-elect Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) is also operating on borrowed time. His seat, thanks to the nature of Kelly Loeffler's (R-Ga.) 2019 appointment, puts him back on the ballot in 2022. Georgians have elected him, but will they re-elect him after two years of explosive anti-life rhetoric and actions? At the end of the day, this is a unique opportunity for both parties. And the last thing any of us can afford to do is throw up our hands and walk away from it.
Regardless of what happens in Georgia, these won't be an easy 24 months. But if 2016 taught us anything, it's how much we can harness our strength if we exercise it. Together, we have the power to raise up leaders who love and believe in this country and its foundations. We know, because we've done it. We can affect change at every level. We know, because we've seen it. Furthermore, we have reason to be confident in a strengthened federal judiciary, with conservative justices at every level ready to block the unconstitutional excesses of the coming administration.
There are people in this nation who will emerge from the turmoil of these last several weeks wracked with fear and anxiety. Praise God that we don't have to live that way. As Christians, we have the gift of an eternal perspective that teaches us there's a tomorrow. And no election, no power of man can take that from us. "He changes times and seasons," Daniel 2:21 tells us. "He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding." Let's all be buoyed by the hope we have in Jesus to overcome this world - the light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it (John 1:5).
