The recent election poses challenges for those who think about the ''American Experiment,'' and those who sense we have reached a watershed in our politics.

        Just how bad are things in our political life?  Some answer that traditional values are gone forever.  Others say that after comprehensive immigration "reform," the Republican Party will have no future.  Still others believe that we face 50 years of socialist, Democrat Party rule.

        Talk radio is buzzing with advice on how to live through the Obama years.  Yet, talk radio is what it is, all talk and no action.  Conservative Americans know that if talk radio was effective in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with. 

        Fairness doctrine or no fairness doctrine, talk radio personalities are now irrelevant. They are irrelevant because they have nothing to lose under an Obama regime. 

        Talk radio personalities are entertainers.  Their income is often made by draining off the discontent of those on the fringe of politics.  They can continue to do that in spite of an economic recession that may lead into a depression.

        Working class Americans and conservatives who have average incomes but above average patriotism are now in the minority.  It looks like they will be in a minority for some time to come.  There is nothing talk radio can DO about that.

        One reading of the situation is that there will never be enough votes in our democracy to turn things around in favor of conservative voters.  Citizens have become nothing more than "spectators who vote."

        We hear this was the plan of the Democrats all along.  It is the Chicago model now imposed upon the nation.  First, use the government to control the economy and get the liberal media on your side.  Then, give people jobs and offer as much as possible to all the minorities. 

        After that, you get enough votes to keep and hold power indefinitely.  This is what Mayor Daley has done in Chicago and this is what Obama and the national Democrats plan to do.

        So, if things are this bad, what can conservatives do?  Is there a politics bright enough to overcome the dark attraction of moribund liberalism?  Are there any answers from history that encourage us or at least helps us with our resignation? 

        We know that sometime after Julius Caesar, the Romans made a shift from ''Republic'' to ''Empire.''  The causes for this shift were many, but the effect was one: The Republic was lost forever.

        Tacitus wrote about that period of Roman transition.  He claimed that the reign of Tiberius had about it a quality that "promoted justice but ruined freedom."  This statement certainly has a contemporary ring to it. 

        The Roman Empire went on after Tiberius.  No matter how dark it was on the inside, the "Pax Romana" shown bright on the outside.  Even though corruption in Rome was rampant, it was tolerated because many got their share of the spoils. 

        Will we see an increase in corruption in Washington, D. C.?  Like the voters of Chicago, those same voters who brought Rod Blagojevich to power as the Illinois governor twice, many Democrat Party voters seem to tolerate corruption.  They do so because, thanks to the party, they have a job. 

        It may be that after the Obama election, participatory democracy will be unable to preserve the traditional American way of life.  No future election will be able to overturn abortion-on-demand, prevent same sex marriage, get ride of affirmative action, improve public education, lower taxes, bring an end to immigration, etc. 

        Even if this litany of woes is imaginary, many Americans feel there is something not right about the Obama election.  We may be poised for changes no one counted on. Perish the thought, but what if the "birthers" are right and Mr. Obama was born in Kenya? 

        If he is not eligible under the U. S. Constitution to be president, then what? Shakespeare has Julius Caesar deny the crown offered to him by the people.  Will Mr. Obama repeat history and do the same? 

        In spite of intentions, history shows us other possibilities for our fading Republic.  We may not approve of them, and we may not influence them, but the past still may be prologue.  There were invasions, revolutions, assassinations, and military coups.  Such was Roman politics. 

        If things are as bad as we hear they are on talk radio, then this is the conundrum we face today: Can the United States of America, a nation that owes its existence to the U. S. Constitution, endure by suspending that Constitution? 

        I imagine behind closed doors policy advisors in both political parties wonder about an answer to that question.  Some loyal American citizens wonder, too.