[Preechr]

That's not necessarily true... The OLD left is alive and well. They're called Neo-Conservatives. Clinton & Compassionate Conservativism has pretty much ripped the guts out of what was left of the Democratic Party, which was the 60's hangers on to the unrealistic idea that government programs solve problems efficiently. What was left of the dignity of the idealistic party is now decorated with a heaping pile of shit, courtesy of John Kerry's campaign for POTUS in which he's run as a Republican.

I think the two parties have, in many ways, switched places on the left-right scale, at least temporarily. I don't see us being too far away from something similar to the UK's three-party, Labour dominated system. 4 more years of Bush will cause a split in the Republican party, and the Dems, taking a cue from Kerry's defeat and the likely loss of even more power in the Legislative as well as Judicial branches, will swing back left and take a more activist (and HONEST) stance.

This may be wishful thinking, but I predict a nice little boost to the LP ranks from the soon to be completely disenfranchised fiscally conservative right, and a re-formed DNC that actually supports it's Screamin' Deans, Kachooniks and Darth Naders.