Summations Only

I was thinking about this the other day, and I realise that I know literally nobody who wanted Romney to win. People who don't like Obama - sure; even people who actively despise Obama and consider him a force of evil, but they're generally either on the far left or crazed conspiracy theorists for whom the Republican Party is not an improvement. Admittedly, my circle of acquaintances is hardly a representative sample of Europe, but it feels here that even the right prefer Obama to Romney.Is this still lag from Bush's overwhelming unpopularity or the result of the Republican's recent pandering to the more extreme of their supporters?

It is a common and tired mantra that democracy is dangerous because the people will only ever vote themselves more and more bread and circuses in an unstoppable wave until society collapses. The idea falls down on the basis that it's one of those ideas thought up in the quiet of a living room that refuses to expose itself to the real world for investigation.The trend across European democracies since the 1980s has been the reduction of social spending and limitations on the welfare state. Democratically elected politicians, like Margaret Thatcher, promised to get rid of some of our bread and circuses, and they did so. Democratic socialism is no longer a mainstream political force, with most of Europe's centre-left parties shifting to the right.There is no unstoppable trend.

You know, on the whole, I'm a bit disappointed by this election. After the foregone conclusion of four years ago, I was expected a nail-biting, white knuckle ride this time. It was all supposed to be 'down to the wire' as the news kept promising ad nauseum in the buildup; before the results started coming in pundits kept jabbering about the long night ahead of them.Instead, everything was already settled and Romney had conceded before I got up for work on Wednesday morning (which, bearing my timezone in mind, is only 2:00 am on the east coast). Long night indeed.And now that Florida's settled, just have a look at the map. One state changed hands. One!Call that an exciting election? Thank god Real-Dortmund was a good match, or I can't think how Tuesday evening could have been duller.