We ought to be thankful every year for our Constitutional democracy, our republic, our Bill of Rights, our free markets, our protected rights to life, liberty and to pursue our own happiness; our affluence and our peace at home.
Before calibrating the distance our current circumstances fall short of our ideals, first check out the rest of the world. (You do know where Aleppo is.)
But in this particular, post-election, Thanksgiving season, we libertarians can be especially thankful that more than a majority of our fellow voters voted not for Hillary (and for the genius of the Electoral College).
She tallied more votes than Trump, but add together Gary’s votes, and the votes for other non-Hillary candidates, a 52% majority voted other-than-Hillary. It’s not a small triumph to have countered the recent trend toward expanding the social welfare state, which usually seems inexorable. Perhaps it’s not.
So, now, we’ll get President Trump. Maybe he really will rejuvenate the U.S. economy with market-based initiatives like private investment in an infrastructure bank, lower taxes, less government regulation.
Maybe he won’t really govern – and represent our country around the world – with the coarse, vulgar and profane, divisive tone of his campaign.
We Libertarians parted company with Trump where we are socially inclusive and accepting and he wasn’t. He had an instinct for seeing the world through divisions of race, ethnicities and religions. He had scant regard for the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
They are the embodiment of America’s greatness
He cannot “Make America Great Again” without them.
He deserves a chance. We just need to be vigilant.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Ron