All those beautiful autumn leaves…are in our yard and on our driveway. The much-needed rain sent most of them to the ground, but I’ll wager at least a few were knocked down by the sound of wailing and the gnashing of teeth. It happens with some regularity now, every two and four years. The pendulum swings, and every inch of its arc is reported with excruciating urgency. There’s nothing new in this oscillation of opinion; it’s just that the clock seems to run faster now and the alarm never stops sounding.
As we predicted, the partisans voted as expected and the swing voters decided the election, crossing back over the same divide they’d crossed in the other direction two years ago.
History will certainly remember the president who held office during those two years, but I imagine the 119th Congress as a footnote in a history textbook. Not that they didn’t accomplish anything. They hit the ground running with H.R. 1, but the bill was so enormous that it was too overwhelming to be memorable for most people. Certainly not for the people living paycheck to paycheck, buying groceries on credit, emptying their wallets into the gas tank or unable to afford to buy a house.
Not that the economy did not improve. It did. Productivity increased. Unemployment eased. 401(k) accounts grew almost 20 percent. There were other accomplishments, but we’re focusing today on the deciding factor that sent so many voters back across the aisle. The Republicans seemed to lose sight of the fact that someone renting, holding little stock, and buying groceries out of wages can experience the same two years quite differently. The Democrats didn’t, and took advantage of that.
It’s funny in a way. Every two to four years, one party or the other gets an opportunity to play Homer Simpson. Two years ago, the Democrats discovered that the voter who has to live with the results doesn’t like to be talked down to, is not enthusiastic about pronouns and microaggressions, and is uncomfortable with open borders. On November 3, the Republicans were reminded that a voter who could once afford a steak isn’t too keen on having to buy Spam instead. As Homer would say, “D’oh!”
Over time, the pendulum tends to balance things out. Sometimes the best government is one deadlocked by lawfare and partisan bickering. It’s the visionaries and the activist governments you have to watch out for. My hope is that the Democrats, confident in their recent success, can remove the ring from their nose by which they have been pulled so far to the left that they would be unrecognizable to a Democrat of the John F. Kennedy era, or even that of Bill Clinton.
Collectivism is corrosive to American values. Give me a free-market Democrat. Because the problem obscured by the empty wallet and the pain at the pump is that free-market capitalism takes time to deliver. The promises of collectivism are immediate: free stuff for those in need; punishment for the producers. But collectivism, and its partner, big, coercive government, do not produce; they merely redistribute. And in doing so, they lower the tide that can lift all boats and push the pendulum back in the opposite direction.
D’oh.
