The Quiet Americans

Despite the global media’s obsession with the President’s impeachment, ordinary Americans say the United States is happier and more prosperous than it has been in years. By Nick Cater.

The inadequacies of democratic governments noted by Alexis de Tocqueville in his renowned portrait of 19th Century America were all too apparent in Washington during my two-day visit this week. 

Yet the strength of democracy, as Tocqueville went on to observe, “is more for what it causes to be done than for what it actually does."

In the US, as in Australia, the left talks a lot about creating growth, the right just lets it happen.

The revival of the US economy under President Donald Trump required no special genius from the President or administrative skill from the bureaucracy other than the belief that the first duty of a government is allow enterprise to thrive.

The economic story is poorly reported outside of the country compared to the impeachment circus running daily performances in Congress.

The tactic of impeachment is better seen as part of the Democrat election campaign rather than a genuine legislative indictment. Their best hope is to keep the focus away from the economy.

Unemployment is at 3.6 per cent, 2 percentage points lower than the postwar average. The biggest challenge in many states is finding people to fill the jobs. Wages grew by 4 per cent in the past 12 months with employees in manufacturing and construction faring even better than the rest.

That the US took longer to recover from the 2008-09 financial crisis can be sheeted home to a large extent to the meddlesome Obama administration. It looked for technocratic solutions, where simple ones were required.

The amount of regulation increased exponentially; in the Department of Transport alone, the regulatory financial burden rose by $2 billion to $3 billion a year.

Governments have a record of regulating badly and the Obama administration was no exception. Its Fuel Economy Regulation, which set over-ambitious standards for motor vehicle emissions, is a case in point.

The rise in the cost of vehicles squeezed buyers out of the market. When the latest emissions standards were introduced in 2017, light vehicle sales, which had been growing steadily since 2010, plateaued.

The unintended consequence of this regulation was an ageing of the overall fleet. Fewer people were able to drive fuel-efficient, safer new vehicles, causing a loss to the economy, the environment and the welfare of road users.

Trump’s two-for-one rule, which obliges government departments to abolish two pieces of legislation for every one they introduce, is one factor in the bounce in the economy. 

Reduced tax is another. Corporate tax was reduced from 35 per cent to 21 per cent in January 2017 leading, as expected, to a rise in investment in the domestic economy and a rise in employment.

Not since the days of Ronald Reagan has there been so much faith among Republicans in the simple truth that the less the government taxes, the more the economy thrives.

Competition between states on levels of taxation is fierce. Last month the people of Texas voted for legislation barring present and future governments from introducing any income tax at all.

Tax for small and medium businesses in Texas is also highly competitive.

A roofing contractor in Dallas I met this week told me that as a matter of pride he always paid taxes in advance. In recent years he has been embarrassed by the cheques that are returned to him for money he had overpaid.

Business is booming and, yes, Jeff told me, he’ll be voting for Trump, just as he did in 2016.

Dallas was one of a handful of counties in Texas that voted for Hillary Clinton. Inner-city progressive sentiment is strong, even in the south-west. 

The sentiment in bars where the TVs screen basketball as opposed to CNN, however, like the one in which I encountered Jeff, suggests the quiet Americans are content to enjoy the fruits of a booming economy. 

“I’ll be voting orange,” the woman behind the bar said, nearly summarising her views on Trump’s politics with her thoughts about his hair.

“I voted for him last time, and I’ll vote for him again.”

She paused for a brief reflection on the impeachment process.

“They say he’s got a lot of Russian friends. Whatever.”

Nick Cater was in Washington to attend the International Democratic Union Forum.