I don't think they realize that they are not starting a trend of things switching away from the U.S, they are helping to accelerate an already existing one. The U.S. has increasingly been viewed as a rogue state. People in other countries have been expressing less confidence in US leadership for decades.

The dot com boom changed things for a while; but the industries reliance on H-1B increased the switching of tech to outside the US. The dot com bust, followed by 9-11 made the US a much less attractive place. Europeans that came to the US eventually stayed long enough to find out about our healthcare system and ran back home. In my company now has more developers in Europe than in the US.

The data theft by the NSA will accelerate this trend. It is a tipping point. They act like it all started with Snowdon. The competitive situation has changed dramatically. We have been adding one more straw for decades. Is this the straw that breaks the camels back? Probably not, but it is several steps closer to it.

My family first voted Republican nationally in 1856 for Freemont. They typically voted party line since. Until the last elections. Among the 100 or so family members that stay in touch I don't think that more than 10 votes were cast for Republicans. And those were all local candidates, friends of family.

The Republican party is dead. It is left to the end of the world nut jobs and utterly corrupt. And this "base" is going to drive anyone else away. The party is finished until it hits rock bottom and either dies completely like the wigs or there is a hostile take over by another special interest group.

Personally, I hope for complete death. Then we can finally have a restructuring of this moribund two party system and get something that actually reflects political divisions in the country.