Ambrose Evans-Pritchard sets up the next few years:
Whatever the exact result of the US elections tomorrow, we must assume that the whole governing machinery of Washington and the state capitols will soon be hostile to laissez-faire thinking.
It is not just that the Democrats will win a crushing victory in both houses of Congress, perhaps reaching the 60-seat Senate threshold that lets them steam-roll legislation. It is also that the incoming class of 2008 is of a new creed. Many no longer believe – or actively reject – the free trade and free market catechisms.
As commentator Markos Moulitsas put it in Newsweek: “The big question is, will Democrats nationwide simply ‘win’ the night–or will they deliver an electoral drubbing so thorough that it signals the utter rejection of conservative ideology and kills the notion that America is a ‘center-right’ country?” he said.
I’m not quite so pessimistic. Conservatives may be sent back to the drawing board but frankly that has been overdue for quite some time. Opportunities are present in both victory and defeat.
3 Responses
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November 3rd, 2008 at 10:44 am
They have been dispensing this ‘political winds of change’ nonsense for years in the US. The US is a center-right country and will remain so for the foreseeable future. The conservative movement is without true leadership and the people of the US have not seen true liberalism in 28 years. This simple refresher course they will get over the next 2 – 4 years will reaffirm the center-right ideology of the US. If Obama is elected, he will bring possibly the most liberal governemnt in the history of our country.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:30 am
The Revenge of the Left…
Bookmarked your post over at Blog Bookmarker.com!…
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
OR
People will get a look at how misshapen the Conservative movement has become and learn that it was much worse than understood. It’s not that the US will turn Left, but it definitely will re-evaluate conservativism. The true TR conservative approach was a bit of left and right. The current GOP brand has rotten from the inside out and the Social Conservatives have taken over. They are moralists and not people who know how to govern.