ABSTRACT
Every so often in American politics there comes a point in time, a moment of pristine clarity-be it a decade, a year, a month, or even a day-when everything changes or more, correctly, when changes that have been under way for a long time are suddenly crystallized by events, by experience, or by some insight. Some portion of the political world reorganizes itself. And for those caught in the refracted light of the new era, nothing is ever the same again.
