The Great Reckoning, cont.

"There's something happening here..." So goes the first line of the Buffalo Springfield rock anthem to the country's shifting societal tectonic plates during the 1960's. While most of us can mumble the first line, the actual title of the song is "For What It's Worth".

Well, for what it's worth, check out the latest piece by NRO's Jonah Goldberg. He, too, senses that something is up, that the normal rules for judging what's happening politically just don't seem to apply exactly.

But what about when the rules change? For nearly a century now, the rules have said that tough economic times make big government more popular. For more than 40 years it has been a rule that environmental disasters — and scares over alleged ones — help environmentalists push tighter regulations. According to the rules, Americans never want to let go of an entitlement once they have it. According to the rules, populism is a force for getting the government to do more, not less. According to the rules, Americans don’t care about the deficit during a recession.

Is he right? Will, as a result, this November's elections register 7 or 8+ on the political Richter scale? Or will they simply be another momentarily disturbing, but then quickly forgotten tremor? "You say you want a revolution." Well, do you?