Most modern revolutions have not turned out well for their early enthusiasts.

The American experience was different of course, with the original patriots mostly revered in their days and down the decades since.

But things miscarried badly in France, Russia, China, Cuba and Cambodia as risings from the left saw the vanguard first kill off the enemies and then each other.

Of course American has never seen and will likely never see anything like the revolutions which consumed those unfortunate countries. Even our wildest political actors who gain traction are from with the mainstream of democratic tradition even if some of them sit on the left or right banks of that tradition.

But even those of us confident of the fundamental stability of the American political order know that sudden shifts in expectations bring about huge and unexpected changes.

This year the GOP has opted --again-- for the familiar face of the second-place finisher from the last open contest. Senator McCain has his critics on the right, but he also has many friends there as well as a claim of "next-in-line" that has counted for much in the GOP of the post-Ike years. He lost his lead for a while but it came back to him as the fundamental institutional conservatism of the GOP reasserted itself as the field divided and divided again.

The upheaval --genuine, deep-seated upheaval-- is underway within the Democratic Party.

The MSM loves this story, of course, because it is as new as Senator Obama's experience with every federal issue. There is genuine drama here: No one has ever raised S32 million in a month, much less a year after the low hanging fruit began to be harvested.

And the crowds, the celebrities, the passion! All very impressive.

But what else is being swept away by the Obama tide?

The Democratic Party is a party of bosses --union bosses, interest group bosses whether in NOW, the NAACP or Lambda Legal Defense Fund, and even new media bosses like Kos. Continued...