Do You Really Know Why Dave Brat Won?

Financial savvy is a key ingredient to financial success. That is why you have to know what you’re doing when you buy insurance and investment products.

I’m not talking only about technical knowledge. It’s not just a question of knowing how products work. It’s also more than knowing different financial principles that are used in planning and portfolio development. It’s a question of recognizing what goes on behind-the-scenes. What societal trends are affecting buying behavior? What impact are new laws having? In what direction is the government taking us?

Once you look at things at this level, the values and philosophy of decision-makers become more clear. You are able to assess whether their decisions are good or bad for the country. The fact of the matter is that some decisions run counter to the way America is built, while others build upon our strengths.

It is my opinion that your “average Americans” by and large look at things this way. They may not have a sophisticated intellectual understanding of things, but they intuit right from wrong. They know when they are being taken advantage of.

This is why schemes like “crony capitalism” and government bailouts of big corporations rub people the wrong way. People know when the government that is supposed to represent them, places its loyalty elsewhere. And they don’t like it. And they don’t like politicians that play that way.

But they do like politicians who don’t let the government off the hook – like Dave Brat. There is solid evidence to say that it was his critique of Big Government and Big Business collusion that led to his victory in the Virginia Republican primary, and not his opposition to immigration reform. (As a matter of fact, it seems that 70% of the Republicans in that district favor such reform!) See the Wall Street Journal here.

What is your opinion? Do you see this election result as a vote for smaller government?