Top 5 Reasons it Doesn’t Matter Whether Trump or Clinton Wins

by Kitty Testa

We’ve all been told by one passionate voter or another that this is the most historic election in American history. Some portray it as a contest of Biblical proportions, our last chance to save our country from the inevitable downfall that is surely our fate if one or the other of these candidates is elected. Many are still undecided, jealously guarding their vote as the poll deadline approaches. Whom should I vote for? Whom can I vote for with a clear conscience? Some, like Penn Gillette, are even vote swapping. He voted for Hillary Clinton, exchanging his one vote in toss-up Nevada for fifteen Gary Johnson votes in California, a state which affords Clinton a certain victory.

But the emotion in this election is far out of proportion to the reality of what happens thereafter. It’s just a fact that presidents rarely get done what they say they’re going to do, either because they really don’t know how or they just couldn’t put together the political consensus to achieve these things.

A perfect example is this campaign brochure from Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign. 80% of it reads as if it could be from this year’s election. He touts tax cuts for the middle class and making the rich pay their fair share. He promises a world class educational system and a new health care plan that covers everybody. He wanted to break the Washington stalemate—this from the master of identity politics and triangulation. And the biggest zinger: “Stop the revolving door from public service to private enrichment.”

Bill Clinton couldn’t keep any of these promises. That was 24 years ago and we’re still talking about these problems.

So whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is our next president, don’t act as if we’re on the verge of the zombie apocalypse. Very little will change, and here are five reasons why.

1. We elect presidents, not monarchs

King Obama

Presidential candidates promise to do a whole lot of things they can’t do because voters expect more from presidents than presidents can deliver. Our government was constructed in a way that the executive branch wasn’t meant to be superior to the legislative or judicial branches. Presidents do have the power to issue executive orders—and they do—but not as frequently as they did in the first half of the 20th century.

And although executive orders have the power of law, they are subject to judicial review, and the Congress can undo them via legislation.

Presidents also have very little control over macroeconomic issues. When candidates claim they are going to “fix the economy,” they forget to mention that they don’t have the tools for the repair job. They can tinker a little, but in terms of grandiose economic plans, presidents just don’t have the authority to implement them. A president can appoint the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, but we have witnessed that the Fed’s assumptions about macroeconomics are flawed. We would like to think that someone can tame and influence the economy, but we are tied to a fast-paced global market that is fueled by billions of individual economic decisions. Controlling the economy would be like trying to control the oceans. Good luck with that.

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