The Coalition of the Wanting

What happened on November 6, 2012 is producing great media chitter chatter about “the Republican Party needs to evolve” and “Latinos are a growing force in the electorate” and “Oh what to do about the fiscal cliff.”   For now,  there is euphoria about how democracy works – the changing electorate – the future of the country with the old power structure (whites) declining and the new power structure rising.   

Let’s look at the election numbers, as we know them now:

·         Mr. Obama received 51% of the vote

·         Mr. Romney received 48% of the vote

·         121,000,000 citizens voted compared with 129,000,000 in 2008

·         Obama got 62,283,914; Romney got 58,905,252

·         In 2008, Obama got 69,456,897 and McCain got 59,934,814

·         So Obama won this time with 7,000,000 fewer votes

·         Romney lost with 1,000,000 fewer votes

·         Republicans control the house; democrats control the senate

 

What do we know about Mr. Obama’s 51% vote makeup; his coalition?  Quite a bit –  

·         Whites (72%) – 39% for Obama

·         Blacks (13%) – 93% for Obama 

·         Latinos (10%) – 71% for Obama 

·         Asians ( 3%) – 73% for Obama

·         (Notes:  the number in parentheses is the % of total voters.  We would show separate results for unionized government employees but we don't have them - many are already in the Obama numbers)      

 

Okay, that’s the statistics of his coalition but what do we know about what they want?  Why did they vote for Mr. Obama?  Not the campaign silliness about what a horrible and out of touch guy Romney is/was – what do they expect in return for their vote?  What does the government provide that they want –  

 

·         Health care for all (ObamaCare)

·         Social security

·         Medicaid (62+ Million in 2009)

·         Free “health care” for women – abortions and contraception, by HHS mandate

·         Federal support for state welfare programs

·         Laws/rules to enable lawsuits if one feels “discriminated” against (Lilly Ledbetter, voting rights, civil rights, handicap rights, etc.)

·         Federal education support

·         Public employees and public employee unions

·         Earned income tax credits

·         Food stamps (46+ Million now on them)

·         No federal income tax for lower half of earners

 

Let’s recap with one additional statistic – the current population of the United States is 314,788,331.  We think it is safe to suggest that those who voted for Mr. Obama, the 62,283,914 of the voters, did not do so because they either think he will cut back on anything listed above or because they want him to cut back on anything above.  To this date he has not, after almost four years in office, done anything but to increase the items listed above.  He does not talk, even now, about cut backs.   His focus is getting the high end taxpayers to pay more. 

 

So, if we take his voters – 62,283,914 and divide by the total population of 314,788,331 we discover that Mr. Obama has a coalition of 19.8% of Americans and that 19.8% coalition is setting the agenda for governance – for deficits – for debt – for America’s future.

 

Before you go running off any cliffs with your well thought out hand wringing over the demise of fiscal conservatism and its alignment with social conservatives, ask yourself this one question – just how much longer can Mr. Obama’s coalition of the wanting run a country with their agenda of expectation (see list above) and not encounter our founding fundamental principle:
 

Deficits = Debt = Destruction

 

When the loser – Romney – provides his analysis of the election results, don’t be too surprised if his analysis is not focused on the future of providing endlessly for the wants of the 19.8%.  He has been around long enough to see what happens when deficits accumulate into debt.  Just as we have.  And we both expect to be attacked for such a blunt analysis of the 51% coalition of the wanting.  There is a simple way to test those who defend the coalition - just cut back the goodies and see if the coalition goes along!

 

For our republican friends, if you really believe that supporting certain “social issues” will bring about a new awareness of the need to stop deficits, by all means give in or go along on those issues.   Just don’t be too surprised if you still find yourself in a debt ridden country run by the coalition of the wanting. 

 

America’s dilemma is not a social issue.  It is fundamental – if you are going to give everyone the right to vote then you must insist that everyone pays for what they vote for.  We used to grasp this fundamental.  Now we only have it half right.