@XaoslordErie Tim Snyder posits two kinds of politics: of inevitability, where the polity is basically good and can't help but get better; and of eternity, where it struggles against enemies within and without, trying to regain its original greatness.
This dovetails with economics. When times are good, we think we've finally got things figured out and just need to keep doing what we're doing; when they're bad, we look back at the good times and haplessly try to replicate them.