Congratulations to my Democratic friends. Your guy gets four more years. Your political philosophy has carried the day. He won fair and square. Once again he has a Republican House and a Democratic Senate. There are huge economic problems facing the Republic. Godspeed.
What have I learned about my country? Several things actually.
1. This from Jay Nordlinger: “ Gerald Ford once said,” A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”…to which the American people have just replied…”Yeah, so?”. It turns out that Mitt Romney was right about the 47%. My country does not seem overly troubled by trillion dollar deficits into infinity as long as by borrowing all that money, their government can still take care of them. The Era of Big Government is not only not over, it is ascendant. The Republican notion of smaller, more efficient government, and self-reliance doesn’t sell.
2. Class warfare works. Although I can make an airtight economic argument for taxing capital gains at a lower rate than wages, to most Americans it seems “unfair”. The 2000 year old proverb that there are two ways to make money, man at work, and money at work, and the assumption that money at work is better may make economic sense, but when successful men and women pay a lower tax rate accordingly, it is now seen as a bad thing.
3. When nearly 50% of the population pays no federal income taxes, a political party that sells tax cuts above all else will have limited appeal.
4. Although there are many people in this country who are appalled by abortion, there are a greater number who are appalled by the prospect of losing their right to an abortion. Similarly, on a wide range of other social issues from gay marriage, the decimalization of marijuana, and immigration reform, the Republican party positions face increasing head winds from a rapidly changing demographic. America is no longer the land of Ozzie and Harriet, Leave It To Beaver, and Andy Griffith. It’s now more like Jersey Shore, Modern Family, and The View.
5. Jesse Jackson Jr. is the new Teflon Don of politics. Dude can get caught embezzling money, get diagnosed as bi-polar, and spend election night in the Psych ward at the Mayo Clinic and STILL win re-election!
6. Republican men running for higher office ought never to open their pie-holes on the subject of rape.
7. Now would be a great time for the Libertarian Party to publicly admit that they are a national joke. 1% of the popular vote…really??
8. Entitlement reform is still the third rail of American politics. Apparently, we’ve decided to keep those checks flowing and let our grandkids figure out the math after we’re gone.
9. Since we re-elected Barack Obama, I guess that means that we aren’t a racist nation after all.
10. This morning, Chris Christie starts Weight Watchers.
So, now we can all just move on, go about our lives like nothing ever happened, because basically, nothing did. After 2 billion dollars worth of television ads, we’ve got the same President, the same divided Congress, and the same economic and social problems we had before. My hope is that they will be so exhausted after all of this that they won’t have the energy for too much mischief. Maybe since they are stuck with each other for a while longer, they will try to agree on something. Or maybe they’ll just become more entrenched, more petulant, more of a national disgrace. I hope that the President will do better, that the country will do better this time. If not, well, we can all look forward to another fun-filled election in 2016. Hillary Clinton and Chris Christie in a no holds barred mud-wrestling fight to the finish, with the fate of civilization hanging in the balance. It will be “the most crucially significant election choice the American people will have faced since,… since,… well, since 2012.
What have I learned about my country? Several things actually.
1. This from Jay Nordlinger: “ Gerald Ford once said,” A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”…to which the American people have just replied…”Yeah, so?”. It turns out that Mitt Romney was right about the 47%. My country does not seem overly troubled by trillion dollar deficits into infinity as long as by borrowing all that money, their government can still take care of them. The Era of Big Government is not only not over, it is ascendant. The Republican notion of smaller, more efficient government, and self-reliance doesn’t sell.
2. Class warfare works. Although I can make an airtight economic argument for taxing capital gains at a lower rate than wages, to most Americans it seems “unfair”. The 2000 year old proverb that there are two ways to make money, man at work, and money at work, and the assumption that money at work is better may make economic sense, but when successful men and women pay a lower tax rate accordingly, it is now seen as a bad thing.
3. When nearly 50% of the population pays no federal income taxes, a political party that sells tax cuts above all else will have limited appeal.
4. Although there are many people in this country who are appalled by abortion, there are a greater number who are appalled by the prospect of losing their right to an abortion. Similarly, on a wide range of other social issues from gay marriage, the decimalization of marijuana, and immigration reform, the Republican party positions face increasing head winds from a rapidly changing demographic. America is no longer the land of Ozzie and Harriet, Leave It To Beaver, and Andy Griffith. It’s now more like Jersey Shore, Modern Family, and The View.
5. Jesse Jackson Jr. is the new Teflon Don of politics. Dude can get caught embezzling money, get diagnosed as bi-polar, and spend election night in the Psych ward at the Mayo Clinic and STILL win re-election!
6. Republican men running for higher office ought never to open their pie-holes on the subject of rape.
7. Now would be a great time for the Libertarian Party to publicly admit that they are a national joke. 1% of the popular vote…really??
8. Entitlement reform is still the third rail of American politics. Apparently, we’ve decided to keep those checks flowing and let our grandkids figure out the math after we’re gone.
9. Since we re-elected Barack Obama, I guess that means that we aren’t a racist nation after all.
10. This morning, Chris Christie starts Weight Watchers.
So, now we can all just move on, go about our lives like nothing ever happened, because basically, nothing did. After 2 billion dollars worth of television ads, we’ve got the same President, the same divided Congress, and the same economic and social problems we had before. My hope is that they will be so exhausted after all of this that they won’t have the energy for too much mischief. Maybe since they are stuck with each other for a while longer, they will try to agree on something. Or maybe they’ll just become more entrenched, more petulant, more of a national disgrace. I hope that the President will do better, that the country will do better this time. If not, well, we can all look forward to another fun-filled election in 2016. Hillary Clinton and Chris Christie in a no holds barred mud-wrestling fight to the finish, with the fate of civilization hanging in the balance. It will be “the most crucially significant election choice the American people will have faced since,… since,… well, since 2012.
Astute. I may not like all your points but I think you are dead on.
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