Jeez, Andy, I sort of agree about Democrats and Republicans, but the end of civilization as we know it? Near as I can tell, it's been sort of like this for a long time, just without the publicity. Johnson, Kennedy, Roosevelt, Harding were all known for dalliances, and Wilson & wife devolved into a truly strange situation. Then there's Grover Cleveland and (lord help us) Thomas Jefferson.
That was all mostly on the personal front, on the corruption in government front, Harding was an obvious leader. Meanwhile the whole antebellum South lead a certain surreal aura to the issue of morality in government pre-Lincoln.
On the politics as a blood sport, of course, Reagan and Bush were no slouches. I wouldn't try to pin anything on Reagan personally, but his operatives were skilled. Bush had Lee Atwater and Roger Ailes, I don't think they would need to take a back seat to any of Clinton's crew.
The millennium is around the corner, but the threats of apocalypse are at least moderately exaggerated in my estimation. |
