This has been a rough week for Republicans and for Democrats. As the long August recess begins, these are not happy times for either political party.

“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” Plato made that incisive observation a rather long time ago.

For doom-and-gloom Democrats who believe that the biases of the electoral college will permanently lock them out of the presidency, the growing competitiveness of Texas is a useful reminder of the political future of America.