The Wisdom of the Market Majority

Although disappointed by minority tyranny, I have to say that the recent elections again bolstered my faith in one of the tenets of democracy, the one that says that a bunch of average citizens can moderate extreme swings in government behavior.

Everybody and their mother has an opinion about the recent national elections. Here's mine.

People didn't really appear to vote for the democrats. The majority voted against (insert here Republicans, Iraq War, Incumbent Corruption). Most exit polls gave these as the primary vote drivers - not "I want the X plan that the democrats are offering".

The good news here? Even when there is nothing (and no one) you really want to vote for, you can still make your vote count. You can vote against government behavior you disagree with. Although the two parties are driven by their extreme wings, the country still appears to have a large "middle" willing to push and pull to keep that pendulum from swinging too far for too long.

(Interesting side blurb. The wisdom of the markets was put to use in the recent election, and predicted a Democrat controlled House and a close decision on the Senate - as much as a month ago. What's interesting is that according to the "historical market prices", events between 9/14 and 10/2 created a huge swing in momentum away from Republican support. I'll have to go back to the headlines of that period and see what the actual big drivers were.)