What did Election Day teach us?

What did Election Day teach us? Assume all the votes were 100% real.

1. Even with a perfect candidate who brings people together, we can't win the GOP presidential nomination. Ron Paul was the perfect GOP candidate at a time when the party needed him. He lost, not because he did anything wrong, but because the GOP base is stubbornly out of touch with the rest of society. That's why they picked McCain, and that's why McCain lost. The party base is pro-state and anti-Liberty.

2. We are a minority. We need to stop this fantasy about "taking over" this or that. You can't take over in a nation of 340 million people with a soft group of five to ten million people--only 100,000 of which are willing to be activists.

3. The Libertarian Party is in steep decline. The party has split up over Bob Barr's misbegotten candidacy, and is going to shrink in size in the future. Soon it will be virtually defunct, like the Reform Party and 132 other third parties.

4. The Constitution Party platform scares people off. I hate saying this--I voted for Baldwin and I admire Howard Phillips. But it's the simple truth.

Brush aside conspiracy talk and discussion of 'the elites'. The news media is predominantly made up of people who are cosmopolitan, liberal, and politically correct. They aren't going to embrace the Religious Right. Hence no mainstream media coverage. No mainstream coverage = An ineffectual political party lost in the woods.

5. Ralph Nader is in decline, and unlikely to make much more of a mark. He's eminently likeable. He's tough. He's principled. The problem is, he's too far Left to be palatable to small "L" libertarians. And doctrinaire liberals will vote Green or Democrat instead.

6. The Green Party doesn't even belong on our radar screens for reasons that aren't even necessary to cite.

Where does that leave us? What are our lessons...conclusions? Discuss.