Is the Election Over Yet?

This post is going up the day before the election. Since there has been so much focus on the economy during the campaigns, please allow me to explain why I do not have any strong feelings about any of the national or local elections.

The Republican approach is basically to allow the upper income people to retain capitol. This stabilizes the financial markets and encourages investment. The argument here is that it may take some time but eventually businesses grow and hire more people. The Democratic basic tactic is to help lower income people acquire resources and capitol through various means because they will spend it quicker to pay bills or buy the things that they need. The argument here is that the capitol gets into the active part of the economy more expediently. 

These philosophies or strategies get entangled into the inevitable political arguments. The Republicans get accused of emboldening the rich and the Democrats get accused of catering to a certain segment of the voting populous. 

As with so many things in life the truth is somewhere in-between these diametrically opposed ideologies. 

There are different forms of economic systems which boil down to a basic four; capitalism, socialism, communism, and mixed economies. Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately operated for a profit. Socialism is an economic system in which the means of production are operated by the government. Communism is an economic system in which the means of production are collectively operated by all of the people in a society. Communism for the most part has never been completely and successfully implemented in practice. A mixed economy is one in which both private and governmental enterprises coexist and thereby create a condition where some elements of both capitalism and socialism operate. Almost every successful economy is some sort of a mixed economy with a concoction of capitalism and socialism in different doses. 

What that means is we need both Republicans and Democrats to work together to find changing common ground as economic forces ebb and flow.

Now, what is so hard to understand about that? Well, both parties now have each other’s respective points of view squeezed through an ideological prism that does not allow one photon of light through from the other side. What is happening in the Congress right now is a perfect example of that. This is one of the worst groups of people in Congress ever; one side of the aisle being no better than the other.

So will the election make a difference? Let’s hold our noses and find out.