The Czar had an interesting exchange yesterday afternoon.

A self-described Democrat was complaining to us about Obamacare, and how four of her friends were let go from a hospital because of new changes in the law. The Czar was not certain what changes resulted in these layoffs, but did not get a chance to ask before she said “Well, what can you do?”

The Czar suggested she could change things by voting in another month. She sighed and said she probably should, but she doesn’t always vote. The Czar stated that voting was a critical pathway to getting anywhere in this country; if you do not vote, you give up the right to complain.

She thought that fair enough, but said that she just did not feel the enthusiasm she had for Obama in 2008; she confessed eagerly voting for him because he and Michelle were so beautiful a couple. The Czar commented that good looks don’t matter, and that plenty of good-looking people made terrible politicians. And plenty of nasty lookers wind up being great leaders.

She surmised we were going to vote for Romney, and we confirmed her suspicion. She asked “Why? Why him?”

The Czar replied that we have had four years of a terrible economy, with things utterly important to people being neglected while Democrats seem to focus on the trivial. That Romney seems to really want to address the economics threatening everything. Like her friends who lost their jobs at some suburban hospital somewhere.

She asked how Romney planned to fix unemployment; nobody can fix that, she concluded. The Czar replied that most companies actually have considerable cash reserves right now—but they don’t know whether they will need to spend it on taxes or can spend it on growth. For example, we know that when Obamacare becomes charged up in 2014, the tax burden shifts to employers, who will need substantial cash to pay for the taxes embedded within it. The Czar asked if she was aware of this; she confirmed she was. But so what?

So, we explained, if Romney is elected—and he is able to dismantle the Obamacare regulations, which is a big if—the companies will be able to liquidate their cash reserves by expanding, paying off long-term debt, and hiring people. Whether or not the Senate allows him to do so is one thing; but under a re-elected Obama, there is no doubt the money will be spent to meet the tax increase. Nothing will be left to hire; and all this talk about this or that won’t matter to anyone.

Additionally, this needs to be met with entitlement reform. The Republicans believe they can greatly remedy the process; she was curious about how. The Czar hit the highlights of the bipartisan Ryan proposal that Romney has adopted, and she was quite concerned she had not been hearing more about this. The Czar agreed; she should be concerned. As a Democrat, she should be more concerned that Obama had no plan to reform entitlements, and has even joked about this being some future president’s problem.

“What about housing? What’s Romney going to do about that?” We said that in all probability, Romney would not do anything about it, because every time government gets involved in housing, people suffer. Better to let the market correct itself. She thought that made sense, and suggested that if unemployment went down, people would use their money to start buying homes again. We agreed that was reasonable, but the President was not able to bring down unemployment: the effective unemployment rate is still higher than it was four years ago, which is why the housing market remains stagnant.

She asked us to explain again how businesses have cash reserves; as we repeated the explanation, she began completing our sentences. She was figuring it out.

“All right,” she said. “You convinced me. We have to do something. I will vote, and I will vote for Romney.” We reminded her the important thing was the first part: you gotta vote.

But you also have to be honest with yourself. And her honesty changed her mind.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.