If Michael Steele, the Republican party’s national chairman, is to be believed, then the defection of Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania senator, to the Democrats on Tuesday was the last nail in America’s 200-year tradition of capitalism.

New face: Barack Obama looks on as Arlen Specter speaks to Joe Biden, the vice-president, who helped engineer his defection

“His defection puts the Democrats in an almost unstoppable position to pass Obama’s destructive agenda of income redistribution, healthcare nationalisation and a massive expansion of entitlements,” said Mr Steele, in an e-mail on Wednesday to his party’s dwindling army of supporters.