The Republicans are getting what they've always wanted. They may end up regretting it.

[malthaussen]

11. Well, let me play advocatus diaboli for a moment...

(Good essay, by the way)

Populist movements have, historically, been linked to isolationism, and isolationism would appear to be on the rise in the US, except for the globalists who run our corporations and politics. Isn't a "liberal Balkanization" (or, go all the way, outright secession) just a variation on the theme of isolationism? And is not isolationism just a variation on the theme of "screw you, I got mine?" I've always been of the opinion that the conclusion of Candide is just another form of hunkering down and hoping the Angel of the Lord bypasses your doorway, the lintel of which has been liberally marked with the blood of a lamb, or one's firstborn child if no lambs are in the offing.

The more fragmented we become, the easier we make it for those who would rule to apply divide et impera to the fragmented parts, or as Mr Franklin is said to have observed upon the birth of the nation, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

-- Mal