9.28.12
MIXED SIGNALS
We’re in a holding pattern today. Republicans and Democrats have little to do between now and the first Presidential debate on October 3rd but examine the ancient entrails of sacrificial birds for signs of the future. They’ll pour over recent polls, review their probable wins and losses, do a little campaigning, or simply hide out.
We hear that some candidates are increasingly shy about admitting they are Republican Congressmen, lest the disdain in which the public holds them grow. Now they run as themselves, or even as independents. Who knows whether this will help them?
As evidence that campaign life has slowed temporarily, the venerable New York Times even had a few kind words to say about Mr. Romney’s recently unveiled foreign policy thoughts.
So now, while we have the time, let us consider the future. Not necessarily the electoral future, but the conditions under which Americans can be expected to live for the next ten years. The future as revealed so far to us by the politicians themselves.
What will happen to us all if (a) President Obama gets his second term?
What will happen to us all if (b) Romney should pull a Harry Truman?
What will happen © if the Republicans hold onto the House? If the Republicans in the Senate (d) continue their embargo of common sense and what’s best for the nation?
What will happen (e) should the Democrats sweep both the Senate and the House?
What will happen if (f) one or two vacancies on the Supreme Court open in the next four years?
Note, please. We’re not talking economics here. We are talking about the conditions under which the economy will thrive or dive.
And we are not holding in our hot little hands a crystal ball. Given what we know of our players upon the American stage, to what realistically do we have to look forward?
Side Effects 