Krugman: "The modern Republican Party’s grand, radical agenda lies in ruins."

Other examples of Republican distemper include Mitch McConnell's already famous self-filibuster, the party heroically banding together to reject a UN treaty on the rights of the disabled, and its local arm retaining Dave Matthews as party chairman in Floyd County.

But here's the kicker: Here in Floyd County, the Democratic existential crisis is even worse. There is no platform, no direction, and no desire to articulate something -- anything -- that might differentiate the local donkey from the local pachyderm. As our GOP sprints pell-mell for the 1950s, our Democrats conclude their best alternative is to get there first.

Why is that?

At some point, the external pressure from the blue states in the north will outweigh the sucking sound emitted from the south via McConnell's fiefdom, leading to progressive reform in Hoosierstan. Until then, we've no choice but to drink liberally.

The G.O.P.’s Existential Crisis, by Paul Krugman (New York Times)

We are not having a debt crisis.

It’s important to make this point, because I keep seeing articles about the “fiscal cliff” that do, in fact, describe it — often in the headline — as a debt crisis. But it isn’t. The U.S. government is having no trouble borrowing to cover its deficit. In fact, its borrowing costs are near historic lows. And even the confrontation over the debt ceiling that looms a few months from now if we do somehow manage to avoid going over the fiscal cliff isn’t really about debt.

No, what we’re having is a political crisis, born of the fact that one of our two great political parties has reached the end of a 30-year road. The modern Republican Party’s grand, radical agenda lies in ruins — but the party doesn’t know how to deal with that failure, and it retains enough power to do immense damage as it strikes out in frustration.

Before I talk about that reality, a word about the current state of budget “negotiations” ...