Americans and gridlock - very good article
Well, the 2012 presidential election is over … whew!
My initial reaction: Disappointment.
Not that I did not expect it, but I would much rather President Obama had not won re-election. Why? Because of the two evils, I felt that Obama has the potential for wreaking far more havoc than Romney did. But then we will never know, will we?
As for the future, I take solace in the fact that Congress remains divided. In that, I agree with George Friedman above, the American people have chosen gridlock because – contrary to the views of some Obama supporters – the nation remains strongly divided between two visions and – despite some progressives feeling of vindication – it will continue to remain that way.
However, I do think that my dear spouse (viewing the election from her Canadian perspective) pretty much hit the nail on the head. People vote for free stuff and that pretty much was Obama’s message.
It is echoed in the old saw about democracies that goes, loosely paraphrased: They only work until the voters figure out they can vote themselves other people’s money out of the common treasury and that cat is done got out of the bag in the U.S.
So, we are going to have a president who will continue to play class warfare and wealth envy to advance his agendas. Ok, I can live with that. That is what democracy is about anyway. Besides, since I probably won’t be alive all that much longer (10, maybe 15 years at the outside, and probably less given my health), it won’t be my problem.
Unfortunately, my kids and my grandkids will have to deal with the fallout, just like my generation had to live with the fallout from my parents’ and grandparents’ decisions (only I think they were better deciders than the current 21st generation crop)
Still, the reactions of some progressives I know was an even greater disappointment to me. I mean, basically telling the 50 percent of the nation that did not vote for their candidate that they can F___ O__, does not comport with what I see as magnanimity in victory (sorry to borrow your line, Winston). It is attitudes like that that lay the foundations for violent confrontations later (See the Treaty of Versailles and its aftermath). But again, I won’t have to deal with that.
As for why Obama won? It is simple: More people voted for him than any of the other candidates. Considering that 14 million fewer people voted in 2012 than in 2008, that also is a sad commentary on the American people. Still it is a tribute to the Obama campaign machine that it was able to get more of its supporters to go to the polls than his opponents and you have to respect that.
Could Romney have done better? Does it matter? No. Sorry, no do overs. We have to live with the choices we make as a nation.
I really hope that my cynical old person is wrong and the progressives are right and that their world view really will make everything peachy keen and peace and happiness. However, I suspect that historian in me sees a rerun of the first few decades of the last century. I know, that really is pessimistic, but what the heck – humans are humans and we keep doing the same things over and over again expecting different results.
If we look back at what actually worked and helped create what we have and took that as a model, well … who knows what might happen.
Instead, we will go forward and blaze essentially a new trail. I hope people aren’t looking for an easy time of it, because when you blaze a new trail it is hard work because nobody has laid down a path for you to follow and sometimes bad things happen and you end up in places you didn’t want to be.
And in the end, President Obama may – it is possible I could be wrong here – fundamentally transform what America is as he said he was going to do when he was elected in 2008. I am not sure that is what people really want, nor do I think that people really understand what that might mean, but that has been their choice.
Remember, life is about choices and we have to live with the ones we make. Nobody – not the government, family or friends – can protect us from the consequences of those choices. They may be able to ameliorate the impact, but we still will have to endure the consequences. I fear that our desire to make our society “fair” and “equal” has forgotten that we are individuals, unique and definitely not equal (the equality should be before the law and government and not the equality of outcome or results, which are two different things).
Change will come to America, just like the weather will change, and the cycle of life, and governance, will continue. Funny about that, but it just seems to go on and on.
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