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Exactly, it could be said that it is a cycle, but in reality, I see that it has more similarity to what would be the movement of the earth, translation and rotation, as it moves through a much larger historical cycle as changing from a Monarchy to a Republic (see the case of Rome in which one moves from a monarchical system to a republic and then an empire) and while all this movement is brewing, there is alternation or rotation on a much smaller scale.

for example: in a nation with a Democratic Republic system, it may be the case that both the left and right sides alternate in power for a time (years, decades, centuries) until the system makes a change, and suddenly the conventional institutions require a renewal, going from a system of Democratic Republic to a Monarchy, Empire, Dictatorship, or some other model. Of course all this is explained roughly, since there are many variables, which include idiosyncrasy, culture, economy among others.

I was viewing it more as a constantly revolving cycle that may move far left during part of this cycle but is overall tending right. Historically, while we may tend to fall left, even to a pretty extreme left, we're not tending towards a dictatorial system like they had in early history, and our right-most portions of the cycle seem to be more and more... well, right.

Maybe it's just hopeful optimism, but it would seem that while we are stuck in the cycle, we're still looking at an overall trend to the right, in that Obama was no Caesar.