Obama’s landslide victory, which was easily predicted by most political pundits, was essentially a repudiation of George W. Bush’s administration. Bush’s policies of increasing the size and scope of government, eroding freedoms and expanding interventionism overseas was rejected during Tuesday’s election by the American people. The Republican party lost part of its once loyal base in the swing states, which cost McCain the election and Democrat Senate gains.
This base is made of mostly independent voters, upper middle class economic conservatives and socially liberals. The rejection of the Republican party’s neoconservative wing isn’t necessarily a vote in favor of Obama’s Big Government Democrats. Michael Tanner, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a libertarian think tank, said, “To suggest that in electing Barack Obama voters were choosing big-government over small-government would imply that either the Bush administration, the current Republican congressional leadership, or, for that matter, John McCain actually supported smaller government.”
The new Republican party, contrary to their claims, no longer represents small government ideals. From our bedrooms to the Iraq war, and the recent financial bailout plans, the Republicans have lost the way of the Goldwater conservative. When faced with this choice, Obama was the obvious way to go, seeking change at the risk of big government economic policies and being content with more social freedoms and a reduction in interventionist foreign policy for the time being.
Obama’s election, however, doesn’t indicate the demise of economic conservatism. Rest assured, advocates of the free market and the reintroduction of smaller government on all fronts will be challenging Obama’s policies every step of the way. The American people are ready for change, but it will become apparent over the next four years that Obama’s redistributive, big spending policies are not the kind of changes that will better this country.
Many of my fellow students are ecstatic about Obama’s victory, believing sincerely that Obama’s policies will increase our nation’s prosperity and prestige. To these people, I caution against blindly following any figurehead, without questioning the roots of their theories. Don’t be afraid of challenging your beliefs by studying opposing positions. After all, Obama is still a politician despite all the perceptions of infallibility.
To my fellow Obama skeptics, don’t toll the bells just yet. This country is not done with small government ideals. People have decided they are sick of the corporate government complex and have gone with the candidate who more closely represents this, which happens to be a charismatic man who is easy to like. In four years, I have no doubt that voters of all economic classes and ethnicities will realize that we benefit every bit as much from keeping government out of our pocketbooks as we do from keeping government out of our bedrooms.
The President-elect is inheriting a laundry list of problems and the free market arguments are strong and will be heard. When Obama’s big government, tax and spend solution fail, the Republicans will, hopefully, be smart enough to return to their libertarian roots. This has already started to happen; small government advocates like Congressman Ron Paul (R/ – Tex.), are finding themselves with more support than ever. This is a smaller, but more devoted and informed base that Obama could only dream of having.
Last night, I stopped off at CVS after leaving a depressed party attended by conservative Stony Brook students. On the checkout line, the lady ahead of me began ranting about Obama being a socialist. Her quite liberal use of the “n-word” among other tasty racial expletives were notable. Sharing a moment with the the cashier, after the lady stormed off, we talked about how the anti-Obama rants are completely useless. People will see for themselves that Obama is a politician just like any other, and turning into racist rants isn’t going to help. After a minute, I discovered I had found another person who wrote in Ron Paul’s name, being unsatisfied with all the other names on the ballot. What are the chances of that happening?
The supporters of small government are out there and our numbers are growing. I’m confident that the effect of the Obama administration will ensure that free market ideas will continue to get heard. I’m looking forward to 2012, when the real change in America is going to happen. Next time, it’ll be a revolution back to small government principles that our founding fathers wanted for this country.
