Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing an end to grudges and what appears to me to be what looks like to be shaping up to an era of good feelings here in Thailand. Now I'm not going to get into specifics regarding the aftermath of the election - we have still got tabulation going on - but based on what we are seeing and news reports that I've been hearing in the last 24 hours, it looks like the Bhumjaithai, the Party of the current caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, is looking to be projected to be the winner of a plurality of seats in the incoming Parliament, which would mean that they are going to be able to sort of initiate the process of forming a governing Coalition. As I have discussed in other videos in the past, especially going back into 2023 when we were reporting at that time on the Parliament coming in then, basically  the sort of “winner”, the one that gets the most seats, even if they fall short of a majority is presumed to be Party that will then go ahead and try to whip together if you will, a coalition. I have often compared the Parliament structure, especially the House of Representatives here in Thailand, to some of the Scandinavian Parliaments wherein you end up with a lot of Parties that then sort of come together in a coalition. Again not a super expert in any of those jurisdictions but just as a sort of broad strokes sort of outsider's perspective in many ways, that's kind of what it looks like to me; for those who are trying to understand this in analogically, that's probably the best way to look at it. 

That said, the thing I am most heartened by in the aftermath of this election - and this election has been a long time coming - this past Parliament was an odd thing. Frankly 2025 is going to go down in the record books in terms of the wildness of Thai politics but we got here, and I'm really proud to be Thai today, I'm really proud of Thailand today, that this got here peacefully and we are starting to see a consensus being put together for a future Coalition in the House that I think more broadly represents the general feelings of Thai people. And I also think Thailand is embarking on a new era. We're putting behind us a lot of past cleavages and just beefs and baggage that has created this sort of feedback loop cycle in Thai politics that has really led to a lot of negative outcomes and I truly think, not unlike passing a kidney stone or something, Thailand is able to really move on now and I really can't stress enough how optimistic I am. I am sick of hearing, "oh Thailand is falling behind in this metric and that metric economically and this that and the other thing". One, Thailand is going to go her own way and do what she wants to do. So the rest of the world's assessment of what Thailand is doing, I don't really care about that. To my mind most of what Thailand does on a national policy level tends to make sense - not all of it - I have discussed that in other videos as well. That said, one thing I'm very encouraged by were comments by the again current caretaker Prime Minister now looking like the new putative Prime Minister coming into the new Parliament, comments he made even before the election had concluded and before we actually knew and he actually knew that things were shaping up in the favour of his Party. 

I thought of making this video even then but I kind of held off on it, after reading a recent article from the Nation, that is nationthailand.com, the article is titled: Anutin calls for national unity and 'end to grudges' as Thailand votes. And again, remember this was said before the tabulations came in. Again one thing I really rather liked about Anutin, and frankly Bhumjaithai as a Party is a propensity to make deals that are mutually beneficial and move on. Rather than getting into a feedback loop of, 'he said, she said, or you didn't get me this' or you know nitpickity picayune complaining, just make a deal, work it out and move on. I like that attitude. That said, quoting directly: "PM candidate urges reconciliation and praises high voter turnout in Buri Ram as he confirms the Thai-Cambodian border remains calm on Election Day." Quoting further: "As the 2026 General Election moves from the heated campaign trail to the polling stations, a leading Prime Ministerial candidate has issued a formal call for national unity and an end to political animosity. Speaking to the media after casting his ballot on Sunday afternoon, Bhumjaithai PM candidate Anutin Charnvirakul offered his best wishes to all rival parties, expressing hope that the friction and "grudges" of the preceding weeks would be left behind." Quoting further: "He described the "often-intense" political clashes as a natural element of a robust democratic competition. Quote: "I wish every political party success in this election." he said. "Let us move past any animosity or friction that occurred during the campaign; it is simply part of the competition." In a notable move toward reconciliation, Anutin also offered a public apology for any personal offense caused during his time on the campaign trail. He emphasized that once the "game" of elections concludes, the priority must shift from Party rivalry to collective future of the nation." Great sentiments, great. I'm happy. This whole just ongoing - and also it all being about the sort of characters that we are supposed to follow around like it's some sort of pageant, I want to see these folks get down to actually doing some stuff. We need some problems fixed around here; we need a Parliament to do it, and I'm optimistic that we're going to get one. 

That said, there are just times when there are these weird symmetries between the United States and Thailand and at this particular moment, sort of sitting here in the afterglow if you will of this election and talking about "no grudges," I immediately started thinking about what was called the Era of Good Feelings in American history, specifically let's go over here to Wikipedia wikipedia.com, under the heading, the Era of Good Feelings, quoting directly: "The Era of Good Feelings marked a period in the political history of the United States that reflected a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the War of 1812." And by the way, the War of 1812, everyone sort of, it's like a footnote that had culminated with the Battle of New Orleans where Jackson held off the British and soundly defeated them, and people are not aware of how big a deal that was, that that preserved the Mississippi to American, really exclusive jurisdiction thereafter, and as a result, would really usher in sort of if you will the second phase of America i.e. the phase where the Louisiana Purchase was effectively if you will settled; that's, basically what happened. Again certain parts of the purchase like New Orleans itself had been well settled up to that point, but the larger part, like where I am from, Kansas part of the greater Louisiana Purchase, all of that was settled in the aftermath of the War of 1812. 

Again the symmetries are interesting. Coming off of this Border War that Thailand has had to go through and now it looks like we have come to a place where we can put a lot of the political disagreements, at least nationally, behind us, Era of Good Feelings doesn't sound too far off. Just quoting further though, "The Era saw the collapse of the Federalist Party and an end to the bitter partisan disputes between it and the dominant Democratic Republican Party during the first Party system. President James Monroe strove to downplay partisan affiliation in making his nominations, with the ultimate goal of national unity and eliminating political parties all together from national politics." Well that didn't work out so well. Quoting further: "The period is so closely associated with Monroe's Presidency and his administrative goals that his name and the era are virtually synonymous." Yeah, I just find it interesting, there has been a lot of talk lately about the Monroe Doctrine, particularly in the context of what's going on over in sort of North America, and there just seems to be a just, what is it Mark Twain said, "history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes."

I think we have got a serious 'Era of Good Feelings' coming on here in Thailand and I think it looks like it's pretty well poised to hold on for a long time coming. I think the paradigm, and I have to shift my own thinking to some degree here, I think the paradigm in Thailand is shifting to one of, I think we are going to see dynamic economics here in Thailand. I think the business community is going to go roaring forward; I think there's going to be a lot of demand for foreign expertise as well as foreign investment and I think we're going to be dealing with frankly a government that's highly stable and a government that is very conducive to business investment including by foreign interest, although not in an undue way, here in the Kingdom of Thailand.