Are we better off today?

Shakespeare's Sister has a great post on whether Bush's 2nd term is a blessing in disguise. I've been thinking this for a while myself and believe over the long run it will be. But Shakes Sis says it better than I ever could. Excerpts:

Yes, it's better, in retrospect, that Kerry lost. But not solely, or even primarily, because of some benefit to the Democrats. It's better because it will, I suspect, hasten the demise of the current thread of conservatism wreaking havoc on America (and elsewhere).

...Conservatives have been doggedly pursuing this moment for a generation, and I don’t think anything was capable of stopping them, except for what’s happening now—an exposure of their radical and heartless agenda for exactly what it is. It’s not just that Bush is incompetent (although he is), but that the conservative philosophy is fundamentally flawed and irreparably ill-suited to a liberal democracy. Only in its wanton and unchecked application were its intrinsic defects and hypocrisies laid bare to the average American; it’s wise to remember, the first widespread revolt against the current power-holders centered around a woman named Terri Schiavo. She was the beginning of their (domestic) end, long before a hurricane named Katrina.

The conservative movement reached its ugly pinnacle, pulling America along with it, and now it’s starting its long fall, taking America with it. Appropriate, I suppose, we’re hitting rock bottom with a dry drunk leading the way. Hopefully, on our way down, we’ll collectively learn something about this particular brand of conservatism, and be a bit more wary of its vile purveyors in future.

Read it all for yourself.