A very interesting counter-take on the question of the structural impediments hurting the Dems and favoring the GOP from TPM Reader JB. I partly agree with the take …
I read you piece today on the Democrats failure of the political aspect of politics this morning. I think you need to take a step back and look at the larger picture. Nate Silver’s piece today makes clear that the terms conservative and Republican are converging with everyone else favoring the Democrats. In this scenario, turnout composition explained the results in 2008 and 2010 more than population realignment.
I bring this up because I think we will look back at this moment as the chaotic time that the old order turned to the new. In my opinion, we are seeing the remants of the soon-to-be old power structure see their grip on power slip with the predictable response of ever greater efforts to hold power through cohesion, projections of power, and inflexibility. I would change the term pollsters use here from enthusiasm to desperation or fear. The end is coming. The demographics are clear. Majority minority is marching closer every day. Their team is the long-term loser, the horse and buggy to the Model T. We are now in the Battle of the Bulge phase of this transition. I don’t think the transition will be smooth nor do I think that Democrats can’t lose elections, but the behavior seems to fit to me. Democrats will compromise because the future is theirs while Republicans have to hold on to every vestige of their order remaining as though their lives depend on it…because it does. Tomorrow is not bright for them.
