Post-election thoughts

Yes, it's not post-election yet, but it will be. This article mirrors my own thoughts, but better and more insightfully.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article5050705.ece

As America's government prepares to take a sudden and historic leftward turn, this might seem an odd moment to ponder what a conservative country it is.

...But the new rulers and their allies overseas would be well advised to tone down the rhetoric, play down expectations and rein in their wilder tendencies. The easiest mistake for the world to make would be to start believing the Left's own propaganda: that a vote for Barack Obama and for a Democrat in Congress on Tuesday is a vote to transform the country into a kind of social democratic paradise.

Of course none of this is to deny that Americans will be voting for change on Tuesday. After the past eight years who could possibly blame them? But I sense that the change they want is for a welcome period of competence and decency. They would rather have a government that works than a new paradigm for the organisation of American society, a radical redistribution of income and wealth or a dramatically expanded public sector. And they certainly won't be voting for a "can't we all just get along?" foreign policy that subjugates US national security to the negotiated outcomes of debates in the UN Security Council.

Odd as may sound, if Obama governs as a moderate, pro-growth President like Clinton, he will be a success (albeit without disgracing the office of the Presidency). If he spends his political capital appeasing the left, he'll be a one-term wonder like Carter. At this point, competence is the path to glory for Obama. Let's hope he's ambitious enough to take it.

-Max

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"The presentation or 'gift' of the Holy Ghost simply confers upon a man the right to receive at any time, when he is worthy of it and desires it, the power and light of truth of the Holy Ghost, although he may often be left to his own spirit and judgment." --Joseph F. Smith (manual, p. 69)

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."