Words of wisdom at any time, but probably now more than most, at least with respect to the 2008 election. I’m not as sanguine as Perry de Havilland of Samizdata—I confess to a full measure of unease at what’s coming—but taken all in all, I don’t know that I’d be much happier if things had gone the other way; and if I were on the other side of the political aisle, I would still regard the election results as a decidedly mixed blessing. I’ve already noted Gerard Baker’s observation in the Times that this presidential election was a bad one to win, because of the daunting challenges our nation will face over the next several years; which is part of the reason why the aforementioned Perry de Havilland is so pleased that Barack Obama won:
Unlike many, well, most of my compatriots, I am not filled with a deep sense of gloom and foreboding at the prospect of the most left wing president since FDR gaining the Whitehouse. In truth, I can see many reasons to think it may well be a far better outcome than if a Big State Republican like McCain won.Of course Obama will bring an avalanche of policies that will be truly appalling and quite wicked, of that I have no doubt, much like his predecessors in office in that respect. As the global economy continues to come unglued, everything Obama does to deal with the mounting crises will in fact make things worse. Civil liberties will be hammered, all in the name of ‘fairness’, and the flood of regulations pertaining to every aspect of life will grow into a drowning ocean.And that is actually the good news.Why? Because in truth the Republicans under John “I support the bailout” McCain would scarcely have done much better. The economic global meltdown is only just starting to roll: if you think the sub-prime mortgage crisis was the biggie, just wait until you see the fallout from the fun and frolics of the impending mess in other areas, such as debt swaps. This is all going to get worse, a lot worse, and Obama is going to do absolutely everything to dig the holes deeper. Looking back on this period ten to twenty years from now, the Republicans crying into their beer tonight will be saying “thank Christ it was not us in office then”.The lesser evil is not going to win this time and much as it may not seem that way now . . . or any time soon I suspect . . . in the long run this has a far far better chance of leading to the rebirth of a genuine pro-liberty, pro-market political culture, something which the gradual incremental surrender of recent times made impossible (such as the ‘pragmatic voting’ of people who want a smaller state for Republican candidates who ended up growing the regulatory state).Many will find the glee of the statist left over the next few days and weeks hard to endure, but to be honest I have been walking around with a grin all day. Finally the era of gradualism is over and the masks are going to come off. The USA has voted for statism and it is going to get exactly what it voted for at a juncture in history where it will very quickly be impossible to hide the cost of those votes.Obama is not the start of a new era, he is the death knell for the old one.
I tend to agree, though without quite the same assurance; which is why I have the strong suspicion that many if not most of the folks who were celebrating Tuesday night will end up rueing their victory—and perhaps Barack Obama more than anyone. Be careful what you ask for . . .