Deja-vu: Remembering the Future*

According to this article, “Déjà vu — French for “already seen” — describes the experience of feeling that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously“.

The author also mention that “the experience of déjà vu is often accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and a sense of ‘eeriness’, ‘strangeness’, or ‘weirdness’.”

I experienced the feeling last week as I was clearing my reading backlog.

From an article in the early-May issue of TIME Magazine, titled, “Republicans in Distress: Is the Party Over?” comes this brief excerpt:

These days, Republicans have the desperate aura of an endangered species. They lost Congress, then the White House; more recently, they lost a slam-dunk House election in a conservative New York district, then Senator Arlen Specter.

Polls suggest that only one-fourth of the electorate considers itself Republican, that independents are trending Democratic and that as few as five states have solid Republican pluralities.And the electorate is getting less white, less rural, less Christian — in short, less demographically Republican.

GOP officials who completely controlled Washington three years ago are vowing to “regain our status as a national party” and creating woe-is-us groups to resuscitate their brand, while Democrats are publishing books like The Strange Death of Republican America and 40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation.

John McCain’s campaign manager recently described his party as basically extinct on the West Coast, nearly extinct in the Northeast and endangered in the Mountain West and Southwest.

So are the Republicans going extinct? And can the death march be stopped?

Reminded me of another party of whom this question is being asked (no marks for guessing which).

And these two quotes reinforced the feeling:

(there is) absolutely no reason, none, to trust our word or our actions

– Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.

and

I don’t want us to have power until we have principles

– South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint

.

Related Posts:

Reviving BJP – Points to Ponder

India decides on Congress led UPA – Guest Post

Open Thread to discuss Elections 2009

* Title inspired by this post on life in the fast lane blog

*** UPDATE: STILL TRAVELING ***

Apologies for being unable to respond to (and moderate) comments. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Back in Action from 22nd June.

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