The coming change in American politics?

Glenn Greenwald on Salon.com has written an essay claiming the US has reached a tipping point about the Bush administration that will mark a deep change in American politics. I agree, though not in exactly in the way Greenwald does. Here is a taste of his thought:

Taken together, these two seemingly unconnected incidents reveal: (a) just how radical, extremist and dishonest are the people who have been running this country for the last six years, the whole Bush-led neoconservative Republican edifice loyally supported by most of the "conservative" movement, and (b) outside of the hard-core Bush followers and the stuck-in-2002 Beltway media establishment, there is a rapidly growing recognition of (a) in this country, which is beginning to engender a very potent sea change in political opinion and political power.

You don't have to agree with his (a) to see that (b) is a real possibility as the result of a number of things: the War, the destruction and inept reconstruction of New Orleans, the growing scandals in Washington (and no, I don't believe the Democrats somehow created these to muck up the Repubs), the increasing politicization of the Federal civil service, etc.

He cites a comment from one of his readers that sums up the situation in a way I find compelling.

I have to say that a remarkably intimate, yet expansive, community of thought seems to be forming across television, film, and the Internet. There's a rather quiet, yet intense, movement of thought and expression building. It focuses not so much on any particular ideology ("right" or "left"), but on a common, critical-mass thirst to dispel the deception, irrationality, and utter hubris that has been corroding our proud country for what seems like an eternity.

But I have no clear idea how this will work itself out. I think Greenwald and his reader think it means a repudiation of the Republican party and conservatism in general. I think so to, though it won't be as total as Greenwald and others think. And it will not leave the Demos unmarked. It is a problem of the political class, not simply one party that has somehow run amok.


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