Do you know who lost the midterm elections? asked Robert Samuelson.
“We all did.” Both parties made the midterms a referendum on
President Trump, at the expense of “anything resembling rational debate”
on the serious, politically explosive problems facing the country.
Take the federal deficit, which ballooned to $782 billion this year and
is projected to hit $1 trillion in 2019. Why so much red ink? Simple:
“Americans want more government benefits and services than they’re
willing to pay for in taxes.” Rather than address our profligacy, Democrats
are talking of a wildly expensive expansion of benefits, while
Trump is promising more tax cuts. The debate over immigration has
been reduced to a simplistic choice between the “wall” and “open
borders,” when it’s clear comprehensive reform is necessary. In this election,
there was virtually no “realistic engagement” with climate change,
despite it being “the great moral issue of our time.” To address any of
these issues, political leaders must be willing to compromise and “accept
short-term costs for long-term gains.” Unfortunately, “politicians
want to win,” so they tell voters what they want to hear. So on we
stumble, blind to the dangers ahead.
