It's official, folks: the Reagan Revolution has come to an end. kowalski on RedState has a comprehensive, cataclysmic lament for the coming evisceration of the Republican Party and the ensuing permanent Democratic, Kossackian, majority
It's a vision way beyond our fondest imaginings. Actually, it's a blueprint for action. And most of the commenters tend to agree with his overall picture:
In the 2008 elections, the Republican Party is going to suffer the most sweeping losses in modern history and wind up with a deficit in the House of Representatives of more than 70 seats, and the Senate may be similarly dominated by Democrats....With the Congress firmly in hand and the Presidency a rubber stamp, the Democrats are going to run up one side and down the other of this country enacting Socialist legislation. The Blue Dog Democrats and the old-guard Capitalist liberals are on their way to being purged by a younger generation of Leftist Progressive Democrats in the mould [sic] of Markos Moultisas and Howard Dean. Not only will they continue to centralize control over the economy in Washington, the legislative agenda in Washington is going to work to overturn every single principle and initiative that was the hallmark of the Reagan Revolution, which is now well and truly finished.
kowalski's analysis is a tonic to Democrats, even if it is a classic example of current Republican black-white, nuance-free thinking:
The Democrats have outflanked, outmaneuvered, and outsmarted the Republicans at every turn in the past four years. When they achieve control over both houses of Congress and the Presidency, the transformation will be complete and irreversible.
Among the seismic shifts predicted are:
- A serious national effort to combat global warming by reduced fossil fuel consumption
- A strengthened and effective United Nations
- The complete removal of conservatives and neocons from State, Defense, and most other government departments
- A return of tax rates to the (relatively) progressive pre-Reagan levels
- The end of reactionary Supreme Court appointments, "because the intellectual apparatus for producing qualified Conservatives as Supreme Court justices is going to be completely dismantled at the university level."
- The reduction of the Republican Party "to a handful of squabbling malcontents who operate at the fringes."
- Sweeping new gun control regulations,
etc.
kowalski doesn't elicit much of an argment from his fellow RedStaters. Indeed, commenter BrianH chimes in, "...trying to UNDO all the socialist crap will be nearly impossible....how do you undo socialized medicine or the newly 'saved' social security plan or any of the other bureaucratic monstrosities that the Dems envision?"
This is the key takeaway point: once the American people have a taste of universal health care and other truly meaningful and transformative government programs, they will not let them be taken away again.
This is a once-in-a-century opportunity, folks. We must not let it slip away!