Ideology, Rationality, and Romney

"Romney Defeats Obama -- Becomes 45th President of the United States! Conservative Talking Heads Riot! Everyone Else Applauds"

Do not be suprised if you see the above headline in some form on November 7, 2012, the morning after ailing America changes prescriptions. The general sense will be that President Obama is a decent man who did his best -- yet failed by almost every objective measure with respect to the economy. The American people will appreciate his efforts, and they will recognize he was partially a victim of historical circumstances.

The American people are fair. Either in their minds or in their guts, they knew that the 44th president, whoever he or she was, would have struggled given the macro-economic condition of Western Capitalism at the beggining of 2008.

A Romney win brings hope for better, more focused economic management. A chance to be pragmatic and practical -- less bold and more realistic. No moon colonies and no free lunches. No new federal programs. A leaner, meaner, necessary economic and federal-spending paradigm will replace the "Flying Carpet" and "Magic Dust" approach of the Obama Administration.

It is fair to suspect that POTUS and his Administration were so over-whelmed by the virtual collapse of the global financial system that they crossed their fingers and hoped, prayed, and spent alot of money -- a potentially disasterous amount of money. Contrary to the narrative put forth by the "Real Conservative Movement (RCM), they did not borrow, print, and spend all those trillions to destroy America -- they simply did not know what to do and reverted to a Liberal, Keynesian economic model. Given their world-view, they were not going to cut federal spending because, according to their economic belief-system, that would have caused a Great, Great Depression. (I'm not positive about this, but didn't President Bush in 2008 say he had to side against capitalism in order to save capitalism?)

Here is the rub: economists are divided with respect to how to save a capitalist economy in crisis. Increase or decrease the role of government? They don't know. I don't know. And, you don't know.

Enter President Romney, Stage Right! No, not the stage way over on the right side of the theater -- Romney emerges just a little bit right of the center stage. And while that does not get a standing ovation, the audience politely applauds as they appreciate the rationality of his presentation.

The RCM people walk-out of the Romney performance, disgruntled and feeling tiny. They wanted to fight Obama's Flying Carpet and Magic Dust with Fairies and Unicorns. That makes it more fun, and makes them feel better about themselves. I think it means ideology and rationality are inversely related.