I am recovering from the truth of this election in painful shock and I am not the only one. Indeed, I have witnessed such incredulous soul searching and finger-pointing by so many trying to define what just happened -- over 50% of our countrymen, eyes wide open, chose incompetence and failure over a brilliant, likeable, and attractive candidate. I am sure the political junkies will debate the reasons for years to come but I am left with a sinking feeling of political betrayal.

For the first time in my American experience, in my lifetime, there is no imaginable excuse for this wrongful outcome -- there were no illusions, no great deceptions, no record of success, no hype, no enthusiasm, and no real indication of any desire to benefit our nation by the candidate chosen. The man was pretty up front about his intentions for anyone who would look. The voters, to quote a famous Indiana Jones movie line, have chosen poorly, they missed the Holy Grail and lost the purity of a democracy by the people, for the people and for the good of all. It borders on treason.

Treason is such a strong word, but I feel betrayed. I am a contractor who has been severely damaged by this recession of unending duration. All my clients have been barely hanging on -- we were all waiting in hope of some change, some small indicator to give us reason to keep hanging on. We had unreasonable hope that the years of a degraded economy could be reversed. It was within grasp. We thought good had just barely won the day. It seems cruel to be denied by those who voted capriciously for four more years of decline. If I am to be denied, at least it should be for some greater good or purpose, not due to indifference. It seems like these voters went to the polls in a state of distracted, unresearched reaction to propaganda. It borders on national negligence.

I am tired of all the blaming of Romney, the Republican Party, the TEA party, the 'radical right', the Christian vote, and us old white guys. You are missing the point: your voting process is hopelessly corrupted.

The night after the election, my wife and I watched Rambo III. I was still depressed over the results and soul searching like everyone else I know. As we went to bed she said, "It's hard to believe one man could do so much damage!" I responded dejectedly, "I know". "No, I mean Rambo!", and we both got a laugh out of that, but really our personally likeable president is not the one who is responsible for the damage, but is a symptom of a larger problem. Voters are choosing continued poverty and decline and have deserted our military, condoning with this election the abandonment of our embassy and its brave protectors, subjecting their safety and lives to political expediency. My ability to work and prosper has become limited. My pride in country has become an embarrassment, and my nation's exceptionalism and the military defense of my country have become secondary issues. It would seem that ideology, class warfare, and the ability to continue suckling at the government teat (that is, the rest of us actual taxpayers) a little longer have become the big issues of the day.

It becomes all the more stark when you take the hype and novelty out of 2008. In the last election, we chose a mysterious, untried, unvetted man over an experienced, honest, trustworthy war hero -- a man who would have been ideally suited to address the many foreign affairs issues that have become catastrophic due to the willful decline in American leadership. It was a bad choice obvious to many. Those failures and the amazing abdication of duties concerning our national security have been currently condoned and reinforced by this majority electorate who re-elected a disaster -- a political Hurricane Sandy, if you will.

It is even worse as I look further back. We have been functioning in denial since Al Gore and the 2000 election -- we have been unable to accept the truth and have made flimsy excuses for our countrymen for over a decade now because the reality was just too much. No one wants to admit that Democracy has failed!

I would like to question the rights of voters to harm their fellow countrymen with their vote. I would like to lay claim to having been harmed by the majority. I submit that all who voted for Obama should be put on probation and disqualified from further political participation because of incompetence, laziness, unwillingness to research the candidates, gullibility and most of all, a lack of concern for their fellow countrymen who actually want to work and prosper and be safe.

At the very least, I recommend we stop the finger-pointing at our own party and recognize the stark, sad, ugly truth -- we have failed as a democracy, our government is no longer representative. Perhaps we should make it harder to vote, not easier. Voting should be a privilege earned, not a right for the indifferent.