Here’s a link to Lloyd: the enemy in our midst.

I’m just linking right now because I don’t really have answers yet. I’m beginning to wonder if the Republican Party can be salvaged. (Fiscal conservatives will know what I’m talking about. Burkean conservatives will know what I’m talking about.)

I’m also wondering if big tectonic shifts are to come in party make-up. Immigration produces strange bedfellows… it’s a big issue and could be potentially disruptive. The labor unions have steadily been losing power. How long can the Dems count on them? New ethnic groups will be holding more sway. Latinos, Asian-Americans… I’m sure there are many other things I’m missing, but I’m just throwing my thoughts out right now, instead of in a more substantial entry that I thought I was planning for a later date.

I’m not saying that there’s going to be some grand third party coming into play. That’s highly unlikely. But it’s also highly unlikely that the status quo will hold over the course of my lifetime. (I’m only 19.) Political parties are coalitions of factions with competing interests. Some factions lose power. Some factions gain power. Sometimes a political figure can be polarizing. Like how there were Whigs who were really Democrats, but they just hated Andrew Jackson’s guts. (Do I have my history right?) You can’t expect a coalition to really be stable when the environment is so dynamic. Something’s gotta give sooner or later.

Thus, there is no question that there will be changes. The questions are: To what extent? (Will the changes be small?) And: How soon?

And if this happens: On which side of the divide will I fall? Should I actively try to trigger this “Realignment”?

Ah yes, and I missed one question: Who? Who will be on which side?

I’m going to take a break tomorrow from all this and do something I was planning a while back: Write about religion. I think it will help put me on the path to answering these new questions.