More surprising, though, are the Democrats, and their overriding priority in making America ever more cosmopolitan, while nurturing the underlying cultural shifts that have transformed America into a polychromatic polyglot. In neither case is it about the middle class.

Right now, the costs to both parties in pursuing this strategy are minimal, and over the long haul, for the Democrats it looks like a winning hand. Barack Obama captured the White House and won reelection aided by the less-than-fond memories of his predecessor, but also boosted by his ability to surf across America’s changing cultural topography with masterful aplomb. The tables have been turned, as yesteryears’ outliers having matured into today’s political dominants. Forty years later, George McGovern’s 1972 Coalition has ultimately prevailed.

A recent joint appearance by Chicago mayor and ex-Obama enforcer Rahm Emanuel and anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist is as good an indicator of the elite political class’s consensus. Per the National Journal: “There’s an easy answer to whether to take up immigration reform, according to both polar-opposite power players. And it’s yes.”

Meanwhile, Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball and Brazilification await. As Springsteen sings, “Now sometimes tomorrow comes soaked in treasure and blood/Here we stood the drought, now we’ll stand the flood/There’s a new world coming, I can see the light.” Springsteen is on to something, about the drought and the flood—except that he is sardonic and angry, and the light is like the beam cast by an oncoming freight train.