The Lesser Evil?

It's a truism of American politics that the Democrats want to take all your money but will let you live the way you want, while the Republicans will let you keep your money, but want to tell you how to live. Another political truism is that elections are fought between the Evil Party and the Stupid Party. When the Evil Party is in power, they pass Evil laws. When the Stupid Party is in power, they pass Stupid laws. But sometimes both parties agree and then we get laws that are both Evil and Stupid. We in Washington call that bi-partisanship.

The Republican victory was a surprise to most political prognosticators. But what now? First the good news—the Republicans have promised to go after the trial lawyers.

Richard Epstein, the brilliant libertarian legal scholar at the University of Chicago, once said that every lawyer over 500,000 in the United States costs the American economy $20 million as a dead-weight loss every year. The American Trial Lawyer's Association is the second biggest contributor the Democratic Party, so we can probably count on self-interested Republicans to try to pass proposals to rein in idiotic lawsuits like those against fast food companies and gun manufacturers.

Further good news is that the Republicans will not repeal the recent tax cuts and may actually increase them. Also, the Republicans may begin to reduce the unnecessary regulatory burdens imposed by certain agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration. And, who knows, perhaps if they get really brave, they may actually begin to address the looming crisis in Social Security and allow Americans to invest in private accounts for their retirements. And they may enact legislation that further empowers parents to choose their children's schools. After all, the National Education Association is the biggest single contributor to the Democratic Party. Further good news is that the Democratic Party's penchant for trying to foster race and class war failed.

Now the bad news. Republicans will endorse the continuing erosion of our civil liberties that is occurring as the result of the stupid Drug War and the War on Terrorism. With regard to the War on Terror, the United States clearly needs to defend itself , but the Republicans will also likely support various foreign adventures from which it will be hard to extract ourselves. In addition, the Republican Congress will likely approve the creation of a redundant, intrusive and expensive Department of Homeland Security. They will also kowtow to rightwing bioluddites who want to criminalize certain medical biotech research.