Thoughts on Election Day: Relax—Both Parties Are Going Extinct

Screen Shot 2014-11-04 at 11.42.58 AMWhichever side emerges victorious, both Republicans and Democrats should face up to a much bigger truth: Neither party as currently constituted has a real future. Fewer and fewer Americans identify as either Republican or Democratic according to Gallup, and both parties are at recent or all-time lows when it comes to approval ratings. Just 39 percent give Democrats a favorable rating and just 33 percent do the same for Republicans. Not coincidentally, each party has also recently had a clear shot at implementing its vision of the good society. If you want to drive down your adversary’s approval rating, just give him the reins of power for a few years.

– From Nick Gillespie’s article: Relax—Both Parties Are Going Extinct

Like so many others out there, in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, I became terrified about the future. I knew the financial system was a corrupt fraud (still is), and I became filled with fear as far as what might happen next. The fear wasn’t that a horribly dysfunctional and immoral financial system would come unglued, rather the fear was based in the uncertainty of the general public’s response.

Historically speaking, many of the worst political regimes are swept into power in a reactionary wave following the destruction of an older, flawed system. Hence the saying: Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. Or even: The road to hell is paved with good intentions. In other words, if good intentions coupled with tremendous upheaval can cause a hellish outcome, imagine the potential impact of bad intentions within such an environment. Those were the thoughts that filled my head during those years.

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