It looks like the social conservatives won. The general information from exit polls suggested that moral values were most important to users, followed by the economy. Not quite “it’s the economy, stupid,” after all! And it really wasn’t the “war on terror” which won it either.
I consider myself a social liberal of some sort or form, which I guess means that I don’t think that government should be a regulator of every part of daily life. Of course, one then has to hope that people will in general do the right thing. But there are many ideas of what “the right thing” is, and it doesn’t always seem right that the government should be the arbitrers of that divide, sometimes; for example, single-sex marriage in the US. It’s not like it’s hurting anybody, I really don’t mind either way, but I wouldn’t want to force my views on people. That does seem to be the way the US is going, for better or worse (I’m sure some people would say better).
At the end of the day, I’m not sure how different international events will be over the next four years. But at home, it may cause large changes. The fact alone that four Chief Justices may retire over the next four years alone is going to be huge.
On the international front, I hope that the neoconservatives and Bush have learned their lesson with Iraq. I fear otherwise.
