I followed the elections from a distance, but like most people, I was surprised by the results. That said, the results are not all bad.
First, I was always hoping for a divided government — an outcome achieved by the GOP takeover of the House. Second, I had misgivings about a Republican Senate majority made of candidates who stand for who-knows-what and others who decisively embrace protectionism on steroids along with other destructive populist policies. Third, I feared a red wave would energize former President Trump and his MAGA followers. Last night’s results should be a wake-up call that it is time to move on from Trump. Of course, it may not turn out this way because the former president, in his megalomania, seems utterly without common sense. This was always going to be a good night for him, according to him, since he had announced that if his candidates had a good night, he should get the credit, and if they didn’t, he shouldn’t be blamed.
An additional nagging concern about a Republican wave came admittedly from my strong support for small government and inflation hawkery. I didn’t buy that Republicans had a serious plan to fight inflation (cut spending to help the Federal Reserve) apart from blaming Democrats for inflation. But no matter what the makeup of Congress ends up being come January, inflation is still a significant problem, and interest rates will still be on the rise. This combination will likely create a severe fiscal shock. In addition, it is pretty clear that a 2023 recession is coming (if it’s not already there), and we have dark days ahead.
Finally, it seems that the Republican move away from a free-market, limited-government agenda toward an open embrace of big government economic policies has not paid off. Maybe the lesson here is that one overtly statist party is enough.