GOP stalwart Bruce Bartlett describes how the Republican Party was in such trouble in the 1970s that there was doubt it would survive, and how under the leadership of the late Jack Kemp and others the GOP invented and used supply side economics to change the conventional wisdom of economic policy and become a dominant political force. He says the GOP is once again teetering on the brink because it is welded to economics talking points (it doesn't have real policy) that are not relevant to changed times.
Thanks to Mark Thoma for flagging the Bartlett piece.