TCS on Election 2006

Stephen Bainbridge, as a contributing editor at TCS, is among those offering comments in TCS on Election 2006, and he offers a rational ray of hope:

For fans of limited government, nothing's better than divided government. Compare the average growth of per capita government spending when the GOP ran Congress and Bill Clinton sat in the White House (0.3%) or Ronald Reagan as President faced down a Democrat Congress (1.7%) with the boom times for big government when a single party held power under George Bush 41 (3.1%) or Jimmy Carter (2.9%). On Tuesday, the American should — and will — give fans of limited government a present by turning Congress over to the Democrats. In the House, the Democrats will pick up 23-27 seats. In the Senate, Dick Cheney is going to be very busy for the next couple of years, because the Senate will be divided 50-50 between the parties (assuming Joe Lieberman caucuses with the Democrats).