The Silent Majority: America's Sleeping Giant in the 2012 Election

Radical left and right-wing groups dominate the American political scene even though neither represents anything close to a majority of the country. I am hopeful there is a “Silent Majority” ready to assert itself in the 2012 election and save us from being governed by a dangerous ideologue for another four years.

Richard Nixon coined the moniker "Silent Majority" in a Vietnam War speech he gave in the early 1970s. It refers to average, working Americans who make up the vast majority of voters in the U.S. This group has the ability to take control of the 2012 elections. It has the ability to elect a president who is capable of bringing back our glory years.

The most aggressive and outrageous contenders in the GOP primary circus have been getting both the headlines and the primary votes. The Republican electorate is simply disgusted with the status quo and is looking for a leader with new ideas. This has enabled Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) to draw impressive support in South Carolina and elsewhere. In most election years, candidates like Gingrich and Paul would have an opportunity to speak their minds in a few debates and then be cast aside by the serious contenders. But not in 2012. Paul has been scoring points with young people and others who would like the U.S. to become more isolated. Gingrich has become a real factor, though most pundits think he is too “out there” to compete with Obama in the general election. 

Obama is playing the role of a chameleon as he tries to recapture his mojo of the 2008 campaign. At times, he preaches non-partisanship. He swears to the GOP that he is ready to compromise for the benefit of America. Then he characterizes the GOP as obstructionists. He promised that his proposal to raise taxes is not class warfare. The Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street movement and all the loudmouthed talking heads and pundits who infect the airwaves with their venom and spin personify the destructive discourse of the president and right-wing politicians. 

I dream of a reemergence of the Silent Majority, the mature, level-headed Americans who work hard every day to support their families. Yet, the American Dream, the dream that so many Americans hold so dear, has become a nightmare. Our elected officials do not govern, or enact effective laws. We are mired in costly wars that deplete our national resources and kill our young men and women. Politicians have increased our national debt, wasting billions on pork barrel projects in the process. Old and inefficient projects in defense, entitlements, welfare and foreign aid are approved in budgets year after year. The country is falling apart, and they are still unable to compromise.

The people comprising the Silent Majority are the real victims of the current imbroglio. Their America has been hijacked. It has been stolen by the politicians, those men and women in the vaunted halls of Congress who twist the truth and waste our money. There is a sleeping giant in the American electorate. He is powerful. But how can we wake him from his slumber?

We need a leader who can create. We need a leader with a new plan for America. We need a leader who can reestablish America’s reputation, give us hope, and lead the country to a better tomorrow. The current president gives us platitudes. The current president proposes nothing new. The GOP candidates, with the exception of Mitt Romney, are angry and negative. They evoke memories of past presidential contenders, who were defeated because they were too cynical, too dark, too conservative or too liberal.

Who is the Silent Majority? I think it includes most independents. It includes moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats. I think this group could easily elect a president if it voted together as one. If it did this, it would drown out all of the self-proclaimed geniuses in the press, on TV and on the radio waves. The Silent Majority may be revving up to make a real statement, a statement about our political system. In 2012, we can only hope this will result in the election of a moderate man who genuinely cares for all Americans and will run this country effectively.

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