One reason a party can’t win against a generational crisis which came under its watch is the impact that crisis has on its rank-and-file.
When beliefs are challenged, when ideologies are proven to be nonsense, those who believed in it with the greatest fervor not only believe more deeply, but decide anyone who isn’t with them absolutely is an enemy.
We saw this 40 years ago, as the Civil Rights movement was replaced by the Black Panthers, and as the anti-war movement either dropped-out or flirted with the Weather Underground. The failure of a Thesis leads to extremism. Whether you’re talking about the antebellum South or the Communists of the early 1930s, the pattern repeats.
- So neoconservatives, seeing the failure of the Iraq War, say that everything will work out if we just invade Iran.
- So economic conservatives, seeing scandals in housing and food caused by lack of oversight, call anyone who even suggests regulation a “socialist” — even including Teddy Roosevelt.
- So religious conservatives, seeing how political action has failed to win their Jihad against “moral relativism,” suggest forming a third party movement.
