Joe Biden's victory is much less worrisome than it could have been
by Washington Examiner, |
| November 07, 2020 01:56 PM
Many news organizations have now called the presidential election for Joe Biden, who has extended his leads in battleground states. This is a disappointment to many conservatives who had either loved President Trump or at least come to make their peace with him given his conservative policies.
But it is worth taking a moment to reflect on the fact that a Biden presidency is now likely to be much less bad than it could have been.
Going into the elections, polls warned of a massive blue wave coming. It was supposed to not only bring a Biden presidency, but also allow Democrats to take over the Senate, expand their House majority, and rack up gains in state legislatures.
Such a result could have been devastating. Self-styled progressives believed such huge margins would have allowed Democrats to pursue significant structural changes. They weren’t talking about tweaking marginal tax rates or raising the minimum wage by a few bucks. Instead, there was talk of nuking the filibuster and packing the courts so they could then clear the barriers to a massive legislative agenda that would reshape the economy and the American way of life.
They also wanted to pursue statehood for Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, giving them four automatic Senate seats. And they hoped that their victories in state legislatures in a census year would allow them to redraw congressional maps to lock in a House majority for the next decade.
All of this is now off the table.
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