Ebb and Flow

The special election, and subsequent misreading of the vote, reinforces my theory that the greatest failure of the educational system in this country is the lack of emphasis on the subject of economics. Even a rudimentary knowledge of markets and the ability to identify how these concepts apply in areas not often seen as having market characteristics would serve our electorate, and apparently our elected officials, greatly. Whether recognized or not, markets are in a constant state of correction. like a pendulum swinging back and forth, the political climate will correct itself when the body politic strays too far to the left or right. Any drastic movement is sure to be followed by an equally drastic correction.

What happened in Massachusetts was that the silent majority of independents had finally been awakened to the relatively recent and hard shift to the left in American politics. Prior to the election, my concern was that the Republicans would misread a victory in Massachusetts as an affirmation of their body of work rather than a correction, or rebuke, of the aggressive progressive movement. To my surprise, it appears that the Democrats are, at least publicly, misreading and excusing the results as an anomaly. The day after the election, someone on NPR stated that the electorate was simply having anxiety about the current economic situation rather than ideologically opposed to progressive ideology and socialization. When the independents feel that the left is moving too close to socialization, or the right is moving too close to legislating individual morality, the electorate will issue an electoral spanking much like the one we saw in Massachusetts.

Remember, Massachusetts is at most 15% registered Republican and at the federal level the majority of both legislative houses of Congress and the Presidency are firmly held by the Democrats. It is patently obvious where the backlash is coming from and it is related to an opposing ideology.