Beyond the tipping point
By Chris Clancy
web posted November 19, 2012
It a while for the election result to finally sink in for me. As a foreigner, living far away from it all, I thought it gave me a better prospective. But I got it completely wrong. As did many others – even the "experts".
I thought reality would prevail. Which it did. But not the kind I had in mind.
I felt certain that common sense would win out in the end. That the ridiculous childlike euphoria of 2008 would be recognized for what it was. That no such government could possibly be re-elected given the terrible economy they delivered?
But clearly this was not the case.
Nor had it anything to do with Mitt Romney being the GOP pick. The result makes it clear it wouldn't have made any difference who was selected.
So what's going on?
The soul-searching in the GOP seems to be focusing on two main reasons for their defeat. First, a Democratic campaign which managed to successfully deflect attention from the real issue – the economy. And second, their failure to recognize a fundamental shift in voter demographics.
It would be foolish to suggest that neither of these were factors, but it would be even more foolish to zero in on these as the prime movers behind the GOP defeat. That prize must go to the entitlement fuelled big-government mentality which now dominates both the popular and electoral vote.
On September 8th last year, Obama called everyone together and gave a speech. Many people at the time talked about America having reached a tipping point. A choice between going one way or the other.
And they were right.
We have now passed that tipping point. Romney's 47% no longer exists – it has passed the 50% mark.
What's happened will not be reversed in four years' time - not as things stand – there is no longer a so-called "middle ground". In reality, the majority may well be Center-Right, but will never vote that way again.
Big government and dependency have won.
The only way back was a return to economic prosperity.
With Romney and Ryan there was a slim chance this could happen. But with the best will in the world I just cannot see how this can now come about. Obamacare stays, as does Dodd-Frank, as does the non-energy policy, as does more money printing, as does yet more rules and regulations, as does the climate change nonsense, as does … well, it just goes on.
Outcome - regime uncertainty. The private sector money is there – waiting to be invested – but there it sits.
No surprise – because nothing has changed – just more of the same; the steady and continuous drip, drip, drip of uncertainty. Of ever more food stamps and ever more "obamabucks" – of economic stagnation – all helped along by fear of the dreaded "double-dip" recession.
Yes folks, it's all in the pipeline, the liberal's promise of a happy and prosperous New Year for all.
And so many questions – ominous questions – all waiting to be answered as events unfold.
How long can it go on for? At what point will foreign lenders pull the plug? At what point will a shrinking base of American tax payers say they've had enough? And what happens then?
Is the intention to tear the Union apart? To bring the whole thing crashing down? Along the lines of – the worse it gets, the better it gets?
Is this why Obama was put in place?
One of the few blessings of getting older is that you tend to believe less and less in co-incidence or happenstance - especially when it comes to politics. Things don't just happen.
There's purpose to it all:
"World events do not occur by accident. They are made to happen, whether it is to do with national issues or commerce; and most of them are staged and managed by those who hold the purse strings." – Dennis Healey
If so, then what's the plan? What's the big picture? Just what on earth is really going on? 
Chris Clancy lived in China for seven years. Most of this time was spent as associate professor of financial accounting at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan City, Hubei Province. He now lives in Thailand where he spends his time reading, writing, lecturing and, whenever he gets the chance, doing his level best to spread Austrian economics.