On Hope and Change...

Unless there is a major bout of rampant racism tonight (a la the Bradley Effect), the president elect will be Barrack Obama.

While many of you know that I am a conservative at heart, I have a hard time being bummed about this result. The reasons are thus:

1. It would be difficult for anyone to debate the fact that Barrack has made people excited about entering into the political system. The very fact that he has been able to amount such a large sum of money for his campaign suggests it. And I believe the results tonight will confirm it. Whether it be because of him, or because of the country's disposition towards GW (who, for the record, I believe is an extremely under-rated president), doesn't change the fact. Even if only marginally better informed than before, the people of this country have left the politicians held mostly unaccountable for a long time, and I have hope that a measured accountability could be on the horizon.
   
2. When a populous believes (as it does right now) that the ruling political party does not have its best interest in mind, the economy at large ultimately pays a price (though, admittedly, one can argue that this is a chicken-vs-egg argument). Remember that the dollar came off the gold standard in the early seventies. In embracing the fiat system of currency, there is a notion that the value of the currency is imbued in the "lawful force and legal tender laws of the country." When a government is not trusted, generally the economic environment weakens. Coupling this idea with the credit inflexibility we've seen this year - has lead to a market-volatility that in and of itself is shaking the core of the economy (or - Main Street, as it is popularly referred). One of the few saving graces is an international belief in the dollar, which has rebounded due to mass injections of international capital into US treasury bills since the credit crisis began. A popular president, with the confidence of the country, instills a belief amongst its people. That confidence must be coupled with actual asset value in the individual corporate entities in the long term, obviously. As I write this, the Dow is up more than 300 points. Needless to say, I don't think that an Obama presidency means that we are just going to jump out of the pit we've dug (don't be surprised when the dow drops the rest of the week to make up for today's surge), but the means to dig ourselves out will probably be better embraced.
3. In terms of foreign affairs, I believe that a Democratic president will allow us to wipe the slate clean. Remember that most other countries are involved in a parliamentary system, whereby whole political parties are shifted within the houses of government. As such, a movement to the Democratic will redeem the view of the United States in many foreign eyes.

All that being said, I'm still hoping for the republican filibuster to be intact at the end of the day.

...Having just read this post (never felt more populist), I feel like I need a shower...