Commies, Greenies: Listen Up!

Here's the Yeahhhh Baby! follow-up to Monday's story about Silvio Berlusconi's big win in the Italian elections, courtesy of The Corner:

The big news is that the Communists are gone, for the first time since the end of the Second World War. Really gone. They didn't win a single seat in either chamber. A lot of famous faces will vanish from Parliament, and it is even possible, although unlikely, that some of the comrades will be forced to join the working class.

But wait, there's more:

The Greens are also gone.

Italy has been a political basket case for so long it's hard to get one's mind about the concept of an Italian legislature with only six political parties, with the most destabilizing and dangerous of them being shown the door.

What's going on?

All human group behavior is dynamic, a pendulum. While an individual may well be stupid forever, societies cannot be for the reason that the group has memory and intelligence.

The more erratic the group, the shorter the arc of its pendulum swing. The modern Italian Commies lasted about 60 years, the Greens just a couple decades. Both predicted things that didn't come true; both had chances to make effective policy but couldn't, and now they're gone. I'd say "for good," but I'm writing about pendulums here.

There's hope pouring over the transom from Italy tonight. Much of what was making Italy nearly unlivable is gone from Italian politics, and I think that all that is destroying America has already reached the farthest point of its swing, and is now sliding into its own oblivion.

hat-tip: Urgent Agenda