Road Map to Political Nowhere.

There is Ted Rall on the left, me, Ted W., in the middle, and now Ted Stevens on the right. The senator from Alaska is proposing that subscription cable channels be regulated in the same way broadcast stations are. Does he not understand that these are channels people have to opt into? No one is forcing them on anyone. For Senator Stevens, it is all about:

"... hav(ing) the same power to deal with cable as over-the-air" broadcasters.

"There has to be some standard of decency," he said.

Yes, there does need to be some standard, but it needs to be set at the level of the individual cable box, not by the government.

I had to nod my head in agreement with James Lileks when he wrote:

Then again, this is how you lose a majority, eventually: Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, wants to apply broadcast decency standards to cable.

I can see in the next couple of election cycles the Republicans getting dethroned in a massive way. The path should look familiar, the Democrats have blazed it for the last six years.

1. In 2008, tired of repeated losses, the Democratic Party will give the nomination to Hillary Clinton after her hard cut to the center (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).

2. Meanwhile, social conservatives continue to push their legislate and regulate agenda upon the rest of the country. Any gains in Congress in 2006 will only hasten the course to the right.

3. Emboldened by their gains over the previous eight years, the social conservatives who make up the lion's share of active primary voters will refuse to nominate someone they deem not conservative enough in place of someone that will further enact their agenda.

4. Hillary survives the slings and arrows and the label "Liberal" to win the presidency by being the candidate closer to the mainstream, odd as that sounds. Alienated fiscal conservatives (who will stay home) and social liberals (casting votes for Hillary) will be the key to her victory.

5. The social conservatives by this point will have completely lost touch with the mainstream and lash out at Hillary as a pure symbol of America going down the tubes. Hating Hillary will become at least as vitriolic as Bashing Bush is today. A lack of positive values will hurt the Republicans in 2012 as, once again, conservative bona fides trump electability. The turnout of fiscal conservatives and soical liberals would determine the outcome. Most likely, Hillary wins a second term.

(This is starting to look like a sci-fi novel outline. Let's put this one on the list of cool ideas I intend to work on at some undefined future point.)

The moral of the lesson: just because you win a couple of elections in a row, don't go thinking that you are entitled to victory. Not only will that assure defeat, but it would make the defeat seem like theft.