Thunderstorms, some heavy during the morning hours, then skies turning partly cloudy during the afternoon. High around 85F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..
Tonight
A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
Went to a wedding in Chicago last weekend, a chance to take a breath before a busy fall.
We stayed right across the street from Grant Park, near The Bean and a big bandshell, fairly close to the softball fields. I thought about going over there to act like Rob Lowe, see if Angie would ride by on a bike like Demi Moore. During the “About Last Night” era, Demi bore a striking resemblance to the woman who would become my wife, but I’m afraid I’m no Rob Lowe, and never have been, so I ditched the plan before I asked.
Anyway, that was also generally the neck of the woods where they rioted outside the Democratic Party convention in 1968, a notion that made me reflect on the evolution of the political parties in the 55 years since.
Back then, it was the Dems who wanted to burn down the house. Now it’s the Republicans.
I should probably put a finer point on that, so as to minimize the outrage I’m sure I’m creating on both sides with this observation. I’m referring to the edges.
In the 60s, the liberals were rioting because the party wasn’t liberal enough. Some were basically revolutionary, wanting to overthrow the whole system. That is still, of course, in existence out on the fringes, but the Dems evolved, particularly in the Clinton and Obama years, to occupy a much more Establishment position.
In response, or to put it better, in conjunction, the Republicans evolved as well. They were at one point the party of the Establishment, the responsible guys in starched shirts, Nelson Rockefeller through Mitt Romney.
Ronald Reagan was the turning point, pivoting to position the Dems as the party of the Establishment, the bureaucrats, the tax collectors. His populism worked, and it worked again with Donald Trump, who in some ways is the ultimate expression of it.
So now the Burn-Down-The-House-ism is much closer to the mainstream of the Republican Party. Hence the mob, goaded by Trump, attacking the Capitol with zip ties and baseball bats, chanting to hang the vice president. Meanwhile the Dems, who were rioting in ‘68, harrumph and cluck.
I condemn partisanship in this space pretty often, but here’s where I ought to make the opposite point: Parties do have a tendency to draw the extremes toward the middle, which means they tend to moderate the destructive impulses of the mobs. Remember, the job of a party is to win an election, and mobs tend to scare off the suburban moms and dads with mortgages to pay.
So it’s fair to guess that the Republicans will eventually run away from the mob, and probably this will flip around again. It certainly has since the Grant Park days.
