The New York Review of Books: Selling Washington

The New York Review of Books: Selling Washington: "The Republican purge of K Street is a more thorough, ruthless, vindictive, and effective attack on Democratic lobbyists and other Democrats who represent businesses and other organizations than anything Washington has seen before. "



Thanks to Carpetbagger for this link.



This is an article on the Republican K Street project, by Elizabeth Drew, is excellent.



The purge of Democrats from lobbying will accelerate the shift in the Democratic Party toward a more radical and "pure" ideology. It will also keep the Democrats from power, until such time as a catastrophe overcomes the country.



A "coming storm" is not merely a perverse hope or rhetorical framework for alarm, it becomes a kind of political necessity built into the political structure. The Republican Party becomes a thoroughly corrupt instrument of the corporate executive class, while the Democrats, almost against their will, are forced to become representatives of whoever, other than business, cares about politics.



Until catastrophe strikes, the Democrats are excluded from political power, and even then, they may get screwed. Corruption does not necessarily entail fatal incompetence. Thoroughly corrupt institutions do not exactly prosper, but they can endure indefinitely, as the history of Empires attest.



But, the K Street Project, while disgusting, is actually a hopeful sign, because it will help the Democrats shake off the corruption, which has prevented the Democrats from effectively opposing the Republican agenda, and from offering a clear alternative. If the storm comes, and if the Democrats standing away from power and responsiblity are able to tell a clear narrative, which connects corruption to disaster, the country may yet be saved.