"The U.S. military is run by individuals devoted to the U.S. Constitution, and they will smash any rightwing extremist "rebellion" that arises, regardless of whether said rebellion contains unhinged former military members."

Quite true...but you are assuming they would not look at the loss of current liberties as not being against the Constitution. Depends on what you consider the Constitution to be, doesn't it?

"Besides, the leaders of the Republican Party, such as Cheney and Limbaugh, are all a bunch of chickenhawks (draft dodging and otherwise) who never served a day in their lives."

Really? Same was said of Reagan before he took office...and I seriously doubt he would be called a chickenhawk today. But one never knows until the leaderships courage has been tested, I suppose

"You know, this is so true. This is why the economy crashed so hard under Reagan! No wonder the Right hates him to this day."

Oh please! You know that Reagan raised the national debt by giving tax increases to businesses, who in turn utilized the capital they had from the Reagan Administration on a new product in the late 1980's call the computer, which in turn capitalized on the internet and then the dotcoms - which made for a wonderful economy during the 1990s with the Tech stocks.

And the bubble was burst in 1998 when the DOJ went after Microsoft under monopoly laws and won...which caused a massive pullout of the tech stocks in 1999 and then dropped the stockmarket just before George W took office.

"And theft from the country on such a massive scale always reduces the wealth of the people, and they revolt. In our country, this is done by voting."

True...unless those in power declare a state of emergency. If that were to occur (and of course we are just speculating), do you think a real revolt would actually occur? And if so, what do you surmise would be the result, given the current situation?

I absolutely agree about Spector - he negotiated his principles away to the extent he could no longer maintain the sham he was a conservative...and everyone knew it. At that point, he either had to become a Democrat or face removal from the national political scene - an intollerable situation for him.

"The RLP will continue to contract till they become a highly armed, irrationally angry and violent right wing militia."

Let's assume you are correct...how do you intend to deal with this "militia"? A great many of them will be ex-military (or even IN the military) and they will be fully armed.

Just curious as this seems to be your assumption.

"the numbers show the US economy contracting at %6.1 a year. If you think the Deomcrats will stay in power with a %15-%20 unemployment rate by the end of next year, you are completely bonkers."

Wow, someone who actually understand economics on Salon! Amazing.

I personally expect the slight blip in the stockmarket to drop as the year progresses, inflation to rise to almost unbearable levels, the job market to continue to collapse, the rise of unemployed numbers to rise, and a general mass-exodus of businesses and a general lack of spending on the part of those most able to generate businesses (and hence jobs) - assuming the government stays on the course Obama has chosen.

Could you tell me what your take is on this? Think I'm fairly accurate?

but be prepared. There WILL come either a new GOP or another much more conservative party.

Either way, there will be competition. There always is in politics...unless, of course, you're in a communist society. Fortunately we live in a Republic.

Oh I would admit if I am wrong...if I AM wrong. And to tell you the truth, I really hope I am. I just don't see it though.

Oh I agree the values have been usurped by the corrupted leadership...but the people (those who vote the leadership in) in the pary have maintained their values. Pro-life? Still there. Pro-military? Still there. Small government? In terms of getting it out of controlling your life, still there. Fiscal responsibility? Still there.

The corruption of those values have indeed alienated voters in the party base and that is where the party is having issues...which served the Democrats well and hosted the wresting of control of Congress for them. The people were fed up with leaders who refused to do what they were put into office to do so a majority of the base voted against their leadership as a demonstration of what happens when you refused to do what you were elected to do.

I disagree about being unable to reach the base by 2010...for you see, the Democratic Congress has angered the voters on both sides even more (hence their low approval rating) and as such, the "Vote the Bums out" march will still put the Republican party into power in 2010, IMO.

That DOESN'T mean the GOP will do what the voters want...which in turn will cause another change in favor of the Democrats...UNLESS the GOP can change it's ways. I'm not sure if they can in time given, frankly.