AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS ADDICT

Now that the dust has settled, or is settling, after the presidential election, lets look into the crystal ball and see what the future brings.

FOUR THINGS THAT WILL HAPPEN

1) We will see a true opposition party to the party in power. The democrat party will use every parliamentary tool available to them, in the House and Senate, to stop everything the majority party, lead by Trump, wants to pass. They will also use every political and rhetorical trick (lying) for the same purpose. There is nothing wrong with this. The  minority party is supposed to be a check on the power of the majority party.

The Republicans should take notes on what the Democrats will do, because they certainly didn’t use their power and political rhetoric to thwart the agenda of Obama and the Democrats the last eight years.

2) The leaders in the Democrat party will do everything politically and rhetorically to chip away at the Trump Presidency. Even though they may talk about the parties coming together, they don’t mean it. How can a party lead by people who want to centrally plan every aspect of peoples lives, agree with people who want to cut the size and power of government? Government gives central planners their power. These planners don’t want that power taken away. Of course I’m assuming that the Republicans want to cut the size and scope and government. We all know that there many big government Republicans. Many of Trumps stated policies will expand government power and the debt. In fact some of these policies will not work because they disregard the laws of economics. But more on this some other time.

3) Being anti-war will be back in vogue. Where has code pink been for the last eight years? Obama has intervened in Egypt, Libya, and Syria. He has ordered 10 times more drone strikes than Bush. We are still in Afghanistan. Gitmo remains open. Where have the protesters been? Or are these groups purely political?

4) Investigative journalism will make a come back. After taking an eight year break, the main stream media will again start doing their job of being a check on government power and corruption. They will do this because their vision of the world doesn’t coincide with the party in power, not because of some new found fidelity to their job. I wish the MSM would treat every President, Senator, Congressman, and bureaucrat like they treat Republican Presidents. If you thought they hammered Trump during the election, you haven’t seen anything yet.

WILL IT WORK?

One of the most important things that has happened because of this election is the MSM has cut it’s own throat. This election has pulled back the curtain on the MSM. People have finally witnessed what they thought was true all these years. The MSM has discredited itself in the minds of enough people, that no one trusts them. The propaganda they use to advance their world view doesn’t have the effect that it used to, because they don’t have a monopoly on information anymore. The marginal straw has finally broken the camels back when it comes people trusting the MSM. And that’s a good thing.

Keeping government power in check is the job of the opposition party, the press, and the people. Unfortunately this doesn’t happen when the Democrats are in power. Why? Because the MSM is biased toward the world view of the Democratic party, people are too busy with the daily grind to stay informed, and the Republicans are too afraid of the media and the Democrats to mount any real opposition. Presidents, Senators, and Congressmen of both parties should be treated like the MSM treats Republicans. People not trusting people in positions of power is a good thing for individual liberty.

 OBAMA HAS CREATED MORE REPUBLICANS THAN THE GOP HAS CREATED

At the start of the Obama presidency the Democrat party had 57 Senators plus two Independent Senators caucusing with Democrats. The Republicans had 41. Democrats had 255 congressmen. The Republicans had 179. Democrats had a lock on all three branches of government. Democrats also had 29 Governors. The Republicans had 21. Democrats had control of 27 State legislatures. Republicans had control of 14, with 8 split.

As Obama tried to push through the Affordable Care Act (what an oxymoron), tea party and liberty groups started to organize politically. After the last 4 election cycles, 2010, 2012. 2014, and 2016, we are seeing the fruits of their labor. Here is how the score card reads now. The Republican party now controls the Presidency, 52 Senate seats, 239 house seats, and 34 Governorships. The Republicans control both the senate and house in 32 states, 3 states are split (read here).

Candidates who want smaller government have been beating establishment Republicans in primary elections since 2010. The Republican party is slowly turning more libertarian in its thinking. What’s left of the old establishment Republicans will eventually loose in a primary or retire. Their replacement will be a more liberty minded candidate. Purging the Republican party of leaders who think solutions come from big government takes time.

The Democrats can blame their losses on Obama and themselves. Obama pushed his big government central planning agenda (namely the Affordable Care Act) and the Democrats helped get it passed. They are now reaping their just rewards.

CONCLUSION

We know the Democrats and the main stream media will oppose Trump and the Republican majority in congress. It is our job as followers of Austrian economics to oppose Trump and the Republicans when they try to pass legislation that expands the size and power of Government. We don’t want Republicans to “get something done” if that “something” goes against the laws of economics, takes away individual liberty, and increases the power of Government.

This entry was posted on November 17, 2016 at 1:53 am and is filed under Government and Politics. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Anti-War Protesters, Democrats as Opposition Party, Investigative Journalism, Main Stream Media Bias, Obama Created More Republicans, Republican Majorities in House and Senate, the 2016 Election, The Affordable Care Act, Trump, Who Checks Government Power