From The End of Excess:

We haven't come to the end of ideology, as Daniel Bell asserted in 1960 and Francis Fukuyama restated in 1992, but the familiar polarities of right and left are losing their salience. For a while, America will be in a state of ideological flux — which means we'll be unusually free to improvise a fresh course forward.

We can have universal health coverage and public schools unbound from the stultifying grip of teachers' unions.

We can tax fossil fuels so that solar and wind become more economical and commit seriously to nuclear power.

We can impose sensible regulatory mechanisms and enthusiastically promote free markets and free trade.

We can grow the armed forces to fight all necessary wars but also forgo pork-barrel weapons systems.

Unfortunately, all I'm seeing in our immediate future is only the one half of these statements going forward. Think teacher's unions and the educational bureaucracy are going to let go of their power? Anyone seeing nuclear power being seriously touted as a major solution for climate and domestic energy? Who in the Democratic leadership is "enthusiastically promoting" free markets and free trade?

I like Kurt Andersen's optimism, but right now the economic crisis is mostly being used as an "opportunity" to consolidate more power to the State, something people like Pelosi and others have been working towards all along.