we have to somehow work our way out of that viscous cycle, and I feel the Repugs are playing us (and the Nation) with that game. Each time we go through that up/down cycle, we loose a chunk of those hard-earned government functions and protections that may never be recovered.
This will never end until we somehow no longer allow money to equate to the right to power, and the right to buy or inordinately affect votes. Although there are dozens I'm sure you're aware of, for me there's no better example than the Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch.
What right does an Australian that made much of his original fortune selling trashy tabloids in Britain and Australia have to strongly influence America's political thinking and dialog, and our voting? In my book, absolutely none.
So, I fear we are trapped in that viscous cycle until we a.) arrest the exponential flow of working people's capital into corporate coffers and the pockets of the wealthy, and b.) outlaw unlimited funding of political campaigns. Our campaigns need to return to the days when they were very boring and politicians had to pound the streets every day to win.