HKO_A

I was less than enthusiastic about a Trump victory.  The best part for me was that is ensured a Hillary Clinton loss.  Yet I feel some sense of relief, not just that the slimy slugfest is over, but there are some things I no longer worry about, for a while anyway.

I do not worry about the erosion of Second Amendment rights even though that was not as critical to me as it was to so many others on the right.  I also do not worry about the First Amendment rights which is very critical to me.  Citizen’s United’s protection of free speech seems safe for a while.  We are safe for awhile from the lame attempts of Democrats in Congress to define and thus limit what a journalist is and thus whether they have free speech rights.

I no longer worry about tax increases, especially the ridiculous 6 step capital gain brackets of Hillary.  This is not because of how it would affect me personally but because it would lock up capital allocation decisions for years.  Just six months ago all estate planning assumed higher taxes in the future.  How quickly that changes.

I no longer worry about her power to select justices who will in effect write legislation so the progressives can dismiss the pain of negotiating in a divided Congress.  I worry less that progressive justices will not protect individual liberty from majoritarian democracy.

The concern about Trump rolling back social progress and empowering the Alternate Right always seemed foolish.  The Alternate Left seems to be a larger threat.

I remain concerned about his temperament, foreign policy (whenever he gets one), and trade.  Can we improve our trade position without triggering a Smoot Hawley style reaction? I expect many of his grandiose promises to be tempered by political realities.

And for my friends on the right outraged by the tone of the protests, I do recall some pretty nasty things said about the Obamas with equally thin pretenses.  They wasted enormous efforts on his gaffes and associations, not to mention that birther nonsense.  This only distracted attention from the policies which have been so thoroughly repudiated.  As it turns out he and Michelle proved quite classy in the white House, even if I remain opposed to just about all of his policies.  He was smart enough to leave the dirty work to the Congressional leaders.  Pelosi and Reid, and others like Elizabeth Warren became the face of the party rejected at the polls.

But while the Trump protesters get over their loss and fears, I feel relieved that many of my fears are allayed for a few years.

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