Oh-oh. Republican pundits are getting bored. Over at Politico, Jonathan Martin collects the moans and groans of a dozen right-wing double-domes who couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Peoria’s tamest suburb, all of them urging the GOP to, you know, push the envelope, take the initiative, and, above all, BE BOLD!
Wildest of the wild men appears to be James Pethokoukis, who seems to be just beggin’ for a defenestration at the American Enterprise Institute, praising—praising!—Ben Bernanke and calling for Republicans to break up the big banks.
“The banks need to be downsized, broken up or at least restructured in some fashion. But that view has made little penetration with the politicians.”
You bet it hasn’t, dude. American politics are subject to evolutionary pressures fiercer than those of the African veldt: 999 times out of a 1,000, innovation sucks. Things are as they are because norms are not merely norms but evolutionary peaks. You step away from the norm and you step away from fitness, and if you step away from fitness, you get eaten. Which is why Republicans will be making Tim Geithner look like Lenin for a long time to come.
Afterwords
Also pushing the “break up the big banks” meme are George Will and Peggy Noonan—you remember, the ones who said “Mitt’s gonna win, and he’s gonna win big!”
