The Democratic Party, as we have known it for the past 70 years, is now in its last days.Yes, the House Republicans may raise the debt ceiling for a mix of spending cuts and revenue raisers. Yes, Barack Obama may win the 2012 presidential contest. Yes, bureaucrats and judges will continue to impose new and costly regulations on the economy.
But it doesn't matter. The long-term trends are almost all bad news for the left wing of the party.
This week's fight over raising the federal debt limit exposes a key weakness in the warfare-welfare state that has bestowed power onto the Democratic Party: Without an ever-growing share of the economy, it dies. Every vital element of the Democrats' coalition -- unions, government workers, government contractors, "entitlement" consumers -- requires constant increases in payments, grants and consulting contracts. Without those payments, they don't sign checks to re-elect Democrats.
Like it or not, Obama is not the new FDR, but the new Gorbachev: a man forced to preside over the demise of a political system he desperately wants to save.
Democrat champions in the punditocracy confidently predict that the future of the world's oldest political party is bright. But in fact, the coalition that is the modern Democratic Party is doomed. Every pillar upholding its heavy roof is crumbling.
Interesting OpEd from Forbes. Explains why the dhimocrats are so trying to force their will on the public. They know they are doomed unless they make themselves indispensable and force everyone to rely on them.