Over the Cliff Politics

I was thinking today about our current political climate and trying to think back to 2008 and what I thought then about the Republican party.  After McCain's defeat, it seemed that the GOP was going completely crazy in a hard turn to the Right.  Many of us on the Left were gloating about how the next decade would belong to us because independents couldn't possibly follow the Republican party over the cliff into total Supply Side economics, neocon foreign policy, extremist anti-abortion and anti-gay policies, etc.

Wrong again I guess.  It seems that the Right turn has worked out pretty well for them (I try not to stab myself in the eye while thinking about how the Republicans can create the worst recession in recent history, get voted out of office for it, and then come back only two years later to clean up the mess, but I digress).  So I have to change my position- the Republican party is going to be in full power again some day, perhaps as soon as 2012, even though their policy positions would make Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman turn over (to the Left) in their graves.

So what next?  I believe that a few years of bringing the Full Crazy to the economy ought to make things bad enough in a hurry and bring the Left back around to victory.  That's a pretty hollow win, though- they get to screw everything up, and we have to clean up the mess, which they somehow get to keep blaming on us.  And around we go.....