David Brooks is not my favorite conservative. Unlike George Will, whose rationality I often find compelling, Brooks is so partisan that he seems to always apologize for Republicans, or he puts a Polyanna positive spin on the most damaging news. However, today he has, for the first time that I can see, dropped his consistently positive attitude. He senses something in the air. He wrote:
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.
Read the entire article here.
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