While Romney is repugnant to me and I oppose all of his stated policies, I believe that he has a better shot of doing a better job than Obama. If elected with a Republican Majority and if the Demcrats are incapable or unwilling to obstruct we may get the jobs program which Obama should have done at the outset. In any event in such circumstances Romney will have the chance of doing something.

If the Democrats obstruct Romney (like Hoover was obstructed during the Depression) then we might enter a great Depression and fear of Revolution or violence might become so great that the next Democrat will have a Roosevelt like opportunity. This is the only sort of thing which allows great social change in the U.S. The danger is that the U.S. will become a military dictatorship or the equivalent under social stress. In view of our prior history this is not a zero probability event. Also Romney’s weakness is in foreign policy where his advisors may get us into multiple wars i.e. Iran. Such a war will fix the economy at a cost of a world wide catastrophe. In short Romney’s election raises the probability for social change but carries considerable risk. We have to go back to the 1950s or earlier when the public had even the illusion of knowing what the next President would do.