The crisis of the Democrats deepens as the foundations of their power continue to crumble.  Far more than the Republicans, the power of the Democratic Party rests on its domination of various major institutions in American society: the media, government bureaucracies, academia, and labor unions most prominently.  Without the constant exercise of power on its behalf by insiders in these spheres, the Democrats' share of the vote would decline by an unknown but probably measurable degree.  Money, propaganda, information, and ideas, and manpower flow from these institutions to help the Democrats. Yet each of these institutional spheres faces a crisis.  The mainstream media's influence remains substantial but is in constant decline, with the newspaper industry leading the way down the tube.  The "higher education bubble," to use the expression coined by Professor (and blogger) Glenn Reynolds, stays inflated only by vast subsidy and...(Read Full Post)