Fiscal cliffs, “nuclear options,” trillion-dollar platinum coins — in this late stage of our imperial decline, we seem to be drowning in apocalyptic metaphors and loopy policy gimmicks. Who among us can disagree with the sentiment articulated by hip-hop star Akon in his “No Labels Anthem”: “We may not understand this whole process and how things go/I’m just an ordinary man tryna live free and God knows”?

No Labels, the ostensibly post-partisan group founded in 2010 to promote “a new politics of problem solving,” launched a press offensive this week. The group’s newly minted national leaders, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, penned a Washington Post op-ed Monday and appeared on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

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