Last week the US equity markets gave their verdict on the election, ending the week more than 2 per cent down from the start. The market’s pessimism was clear: the probability rose on Tuesday night that the US will go over the fiscal cliff. To put it another way, Barack Obama’s win sharply reduced the Republican appetite to avert a fiscal crisis. Which seems about right.

There are occasions in a nation’s politics when the overhang of decisions can no longer be contained. In the case of America’s governability, this is the key equation: there is no path back to a half-decently functioning Washington that does not involve either a dramatic change of heart by the Republicans, or, less unlikely, a deepening split within it. Steep as they are, the stakes go far higher than the impending fiscal cliff.

Should the GOP remain united in opposition to Mr Obama (who has a broadly centrist approach to America’s economic challenges), the US will become cripplingly ungovernable. Look at California over the past generation. Alternatively, should the Republican party lose its iron discipline, and no longer reflexively act as a blocking minority in the Senate and a blocking majority in the House, events could turn out much better.