A real political crisis? Or just some local manifestations of the West’s worldwide collapse of rusted-on party loyalty that is simply part of the colourful evolution of the democratic process? If there is a crisis in Australian politics, it is temporarily being submerged by the combination of Liberal euphoria at narrowly avoiding a pollster-inspired political execution last month and the shell-shocked ALP’s search for who to blame for their success in proving that any ‘unlosable’ election  John Hewson can lose, they can lose worse.