© Reuters / David Becker
For centuries hereditary monarchy was the dominant way to select national leaders, evolving into an intricate system that sustained itself through power and propaganda even as its ideological roots shriveled amid the Age of Reason. Yet, as monarchy became a dead idea, it still killed millions in its death throes.
Today, the dangerous "dead ideas" are neoconservatism and its close ally, neoliberalism. These are concepts that have organized American foreign policy and economics, respectively, over the past several decades - and they have failed miserably, at least from the perspective of average Americans and people of the nations on the receiving end of these ideologies.
Neither approach has benefited mankind; both have led to untold death and destruction; yet the twin "neos" have built such a powerful propaganda and political apparatus, especially in Official Washington, that they will surely continue to wreak havoc for years to come. They are zombie ideas and they kill.
Yet, the Democratic Party is poised to nominate an adherent to both "neos" in the person of Hillary Clinton. Rather than move forward from President Barack Obama's unease with what he calls the Washington "playbook," the Democrats are retreating into its perceived safety.
Comment: Not only Rousseff is having troubles, 60% of the senate members are under investigation.