“We are now on day 27 of a government shutdown centered on whether the U.S. should build a new barrier on the southern border with Mexico. ... Neither Republicans nor Democrats have been willing to blink, and both sides appear to be growing increasingly dug in. ..…

And like their southern predecessors in the 1850s, Movement Conservatives in 2004 were boasting that “Republican hegemony” would last “for years, maybe decades.” ..…