The US elections – a victory for the status quo

What conclusions can we draw from the past presidential campaign about the state of the political scene in the US?

The United States presidential election is over. The battle was fierce and expensive (the cost of both campaigns reached $2 billion). What conclusions can we draw from the past presidential campaign about the state of the political scene in the United States?

• The status quo won. In fact, it had won before the first vote was cast. What the public and most of the media missed was that the two candidates were almost identical. Their positions on the budget, which should not be balanced now, their positions on foreign policy, on the Federal Reserve, and many other issues were completely aligned. That is why the debates were more of a contest of oratory than a true clash of ideas.
• The alternatives may be out there, trying to break the grip of the Republicans and Democrats. We await the results of the Libertarian, Constitution, and Green parties. Still, for the first time in a long time, the mainstream has noticed the differences. Ron Paul is often on the screen, and Larry King is debating the third party contenders on Russia Today.
• The Republican Party has a huge problem because its electorate is shrinking. The growing number of immigrants and increasingly liberal white voters are squeezing conservatives. In the 2010 elections, the GOP's victory was brought by the nascent Tea Party. Many of the same fiscally conservative voters decided not to get behind the former Massachusetts governor who gave the world a leftist program like Obamacare.
• We see a sharpening of the political spectrum, with Americans increasingly moving towards one of the extreme philosophical and ideological positions. Also worrying is the more frequent talk of "class struggle". Something that is not usual for the country of prosperity and can be interpreted as a sign of a coming crisis.
• In the end, it doesn't matter, because the US is facing a huge fiscal crisis, and almost all politicians are sitting with their eyes closed and waiting for the Federal Reserve to solve the problem. And even Bernanke himself says that the Fed can't fix fiscal messes.

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