| Katrina means that the political culture, already sour and bloody-minded in many quarters, will shift. There will be a reaction. There will be more impatience for something new. There is going to be some sort of big bang as people respond to the cumulative blows of bad events and try to fundamentally change the way things are.
Reaganite conservatism was the response to the pessimism and feebleness of the 1970's. Maybe this time there will be a progressive resurgence. Maybe we are entering an age of hardheaded law and order. (Rudy Giuliani, an unlikely G.O.P. nominee a few months ago, could now win in a walk.) Maybe there will be call for McCainist patriotism and nonpartisan independence. All we can be sure of is that the political culture is about to undergo some big change. We're not really at a tipping point as much as a bursting point. People are mad as hell, unwilling to take it anymore. |
He's stnading by his prediction of a coming realignment. And so am I. Just as the 1970's produced the dominant Reagan conservative colaition, so too will the mid-2000's produce a new coalition. But there's no telling what it will look like. Forget left right as you know it. Realignments rearrange everything, and my guess is you'll see something that combines all of the elements Brooks outlines above. As it happens, I have but one hope: better angels. Let us turn to our better angels as we find the way forward.
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