I'm mixed on the idea that the pendulum swings one way politically then swings to another way. I'd like to stir a bit of debate by putting forth the idea that it does not actually exist in reality. The conservatives always take yesterday's positions. As time passes conservatives ape past leftists and conservatives of a bit farther in the past are regarded as putrid monsters. That sounds like a steady shift leftward to me. Sure Nixon follows Johnson, Reagan follows Carter and Trump follows Obama, but that looks to me like a temporary pause.