Post-Election Ramblings
As I get older and read more, I realize that our Founding Fathers had a lot of flaws and the system they implemented was not an impartial mechanism of governing. Still, their ideas impress me, like their insight that the Senate would be a stabilizing force that guards against wild swings in the public mood. That's what we saw last night. Republicans had a huge night in the House, but they won't win the Senate. At best, they'll be sitting at 49 after the counting is done. Link. * * * * * * * In yesterday's post, I asked whether people like James Fallows want things to be true so badly that they just say it and hope it's right. Last night, when Fox first predicted that it looked like the GOP could pick up as many as 60 seats in the House (around 9:00), I flipped to CNN and they were saying that the GOP could pick up 50, maybe more. Neither network was wrong, as it turns out, but CNN was significantly under-stating the GOP wave. * * * * * * * That last point, incidentally, is written with the commonly-acknowledged background that CNN is a tool of the Left and Fox is a tool of the Right. I didn't make that clear as I typed it. * * * * * * * Republicans can celebrate, but I'll never forget Nock's observation in Chp. V, Part IV of Our Enemy, The State: “The Party System.” It's easily summed up: If your country is ruled by a state, it doesn't matter what political party is in power. Both parties are merely going to abuse the power for their own benefit. It's inevitable. I'll have to go back and read that chapter because I forget how Nock came to that conclusion, but based on my observations over the past thirty years, I have little doubt he's correct. * * * * * * * Though I am encouraged by Rand Paul's election and statements by GOP leaders last night that they realize they screwed up the last time they had power. I'm not optimistic, but I am a bit encouraged. * * * * * * * Part of me thinks the Democrats are relieved to lose the House. Now the Republicans can share more blame for the economy . . . and the worst might be yet to come. Though the MSM economists are touting a strong market for the next 6-24 months, the people who predicted the meltdown are still on the edge of their seats. * * * * * * * And don't forget: "As the US Federal Reserve meets today to decide whether its next blast of quantitative easing should be $1 trillion or a more cautious $500bn, it does so knowing that China and the emerging world view the policy as an attempt to drive down the dollar." The rest of the world is probably more interested about what happens today than they were about yesterday. * * * * * * * In case you missed it: Three Iowa justices removed after gay marriage ruling. The leftist AP, of course, tried to mitigate the result, noting: "Gay marriage opponents spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the campaign." Wow. Hundreds of thousands. I don't know how much money is typically spent on state Supreme Court elections, but I would think seven figures is the norm. Oh well, at least the AP writer was honest about it and didn't merely refer to "enormous sums" or some such thing.
