We're all familiar with the scene from the horror movies.  Just at the moment of facing the monster, or perhaps that last step before a fall into the abyss -- the music climaxes; the camera zooms in.  And there, on the big screen, a close-up of the victim's face: a look at first of confusion, then real terror, and finally that flash of realization in their eyes -- that they really screwed up.  It's too late.  The victim was unprepared.  Or he was duped, or on the wrong side.  He might have completely miscalculated their attacker's next move, or even failed to correctly identify evil itself.

We clench the armrest; we imagine the victim's terror and feel sorry for him.  All while yelling, What in the heck are you doing?  Don't go outside!  Don't open the door!  Stop!  Are you stupid?  Can't you see?  What's wrong with you?

But all our shouted warnings change nothing.  The script has been set.  And we agonize for the other doomed characters, swept along on the ride to that dramatic point of no return.

In real life, the results of this election inflicted similar expressions across the nation.  Early last Tuesday I was feeling optimistic about the women's vote for Romney, and I posted "Julia Stayed Home; Jane Voted."  It didn't take long to realize that Julia and her friends overwhelmed the voting booths, and as one commenter remarked, to my horror: "Jane died.  Julia ate her."  Later that night, we saw the bewildered look on Karl Rove's face on Fox News when its analysts predicted Ohio going for Obama.  At about that same time, most conservatives' TVs reflected images of their owners in a state of shock.

We groggily woke up Wednesday, though, to find ourselves not yet fallen into the pit of doom, but still teetering at the "edge of the abyss."  Our fingers are slowly losing their grip on the armrests.  Our voices are returning.  Our expressions of disillusionment and dismay are transforming into a grim determination.

In the other half of the nation, liberals' faces reflected giddy euphoria, happy anticipation, and righteous anger.  Pop culture icon Beyoncé tweeted, "Take that Mitches."  College students (many unable to answer basic questions about our government) victoriously shouted, "Karl Marx!" after Obama won.  One of my very liberal Facebook friends defied any white person who voted for Romney to prove that he or she wasn't racist.  A few days later, unemployed Chicagoans stood in line at job fairs learning how to organize and expecting Walmart gift cards in return.

In the theater, such naïve expressions foreshadow the stuff of real terror down the road.  In real life, we wonder when we'll see that cinematic flash of realization in Obama-voter eyes, and whether it will be too late to save them and the rest of the nation as they drag us all down to economic ruin.

For now, we watch them celebrate their "revenge" and ignore the warning signs at the fiscal cliff's edge.  We hope we can shout an alarm loud enough to change the story's outcome -- that a spark of truth will illuminate an Obama voter's eyes before it's too late, that they mentally grow up and realize that the bread and circuses will end in financial chaos and moral ruin.

For some unfortunate Obama-voting Americans, that look of horrific realization flashed across their faces when they received pink slips in the mail after the election.  Others will realize their error when ObamaCare's rationing knocks at their door.  Still more will see the light at the grocery when massive inflation renders their hard-earned dollars practically worthless.

We may be forced against our wills to join liberals in the slide down the abyss, but we certainly didn't buy a ticket for the ride.  We see the danger of the steep fiscal cliff in the distance.  We understand charts of "Publicly Held Debt Under 2013 Budget Policy Projections" and the terrifying reality of Mark Steyn's description: "a straight line going straight up before disappearing off the top right-hand corner of the graph in the year 2084 and continuing northeast straight through your eye socket, [and] out the back of your skull[.]"  We hear the monstrous sucking sound of the deficit, and the roar of trillions of dollars plunging down the waterfall that lies ahead.  So we dare not step outside without the armor of a serious plan.

Following the election, Mark Judge wrote: "America has been fundamentally transformed.  God has not."  God is still watching, and the principles outlined in our founding documents remain true even though the majority of today's population fails to understand or rejects them.  We realize now that our strategy must be adjusted to meet the new reality of voting demographics, but we still believe that the conservative moral and economic platform holds the key to survival and prosperity.

Obama won not because conservatism is wrong or archaic.  He won because he managed to organize motley crews having vastly different motivations and backgrounds into a Frankenstein-ish voting majority.  Obama's script, written by Saul Alinsky, was dedicated not to a hero of community service, but rather to the master of community organizing -- the king of bogeymen, Lucifer himself.  Obama's lines, like "you didn't build that," animate his creature, inspired by "revenge," fed with freebies and led "forward" by Orwellian chains of sexual freedom. 

And while those organized communities might be happily singing kumbaya together today, when the rich among them see their stock portfolios dwindle or pensions go bankrupt and Obama-money and Obama-phones start running out for the rest, expect to see a very disillusioned puppet become unglued.  Obama bumper stickers won't shield anyone from angry pitchforks.

So we must arm ourselves with conservative principles and head, clear-eyed, into the darkness.  Even if to save just one mind at a time, and even if it means that the fruits of our labor might not be evident until the next generation.  For some, battles may be fought at home at their own dining room tables.  Religion and politics, instead of subjects to be avoided, must be on the menu, as we teach our children to recognize the differences among truth, falseness, and the deceiving feel-good fuzzy gray area that lies in between.

We must not give up explaining, voting, campaigning, and trying to avert our nation's course.  We will build roadblocks when necessary, and fortresses when all else fails.  We will valiantly strive to be examples of self-sufficiency and support for our communities, families, and neighbors.

It's awful enough witnessing the recognition of doom on the face of a fictional victim.  It's more than sad when we see the expression in a friend's or neighbor's eyes who can't find a job.  But far more terrible would be to face, as individuals, the realization that we didn't do everything in our power to save our nation and to protect the next generation.