Whatever happens in congress over the next 24-48 hours, it is clear that we’ve entered a new phase of American democracy. In this phase, the notion that we can have rational debates and honest policy disagreements that are settled reasonably has flown out the window. Instead we have one party that is determined to fuck shit up in order to cleanse the country by fire. That means they should lose elections, but they have billions on their side, a willingness to flat out lie, and a committed core of ovine followers, so they are competitive in every election in spite of themselves.
All that raises the question, What next? Think 123 does a great job imagining what life will be like before it gets any better:
In a way, New Age Conservative extremism is no different than the Old Age Communist extremism. It’s based on absolute self-certitude centered around a manifesto. It took the USSR seventy years to finally prove that manifestos and theories are not a fit way to govern.
A few years of Ayn Rand manifesto based government, dismantling the safety nets, destroying Federal agencies, America will see the folly of trying to govern by ideology. Communism died by it’s own hand. Aynrandism might have to find that way to the ash heap of history too.