Have you listened to Palin speak? She's not going to be the party's nominee, but she could head her own "third-party," which would be a blessing for the Dems.
I have no interest in conspiracy theories in general, but something about 2012 intrigues me in terms of "transformation." I find it curious that the Olympics are coming full circle "under the Queen" that particular year, it will mark the end of the rein of a party in the US hellbent on passing any legislation, even bad legislation with little accountability and transparency and extremely costly downstream effects, than no legislation at all.
Iran/Israel will be addressed in one form or another well before then, an energy crisis will ensue, and the "orderly" decline in the dollar, after a mild, and perhaps multi-month rebound (betting against the dollar is a very crowded trade), could quite easily reach the "tipping point" and become a full-tilt dislocation, formally transferring the economic might from the US to the Dragons. And we are utterly powerless to stop it, doing nothing to rein in Big Government, nothing to secure our own energy future in any meaningful, scaleable way, and nothing stop the interventionist, inflationist, corporatist policies that have utterly undermined this "republic."
Here's hoping you've secured your piece of "heaven" in Brazil (a play on China), or Panama (the epicenter of trade between hemispheres), if it de-pegs from the dollar, or some other place like the Dominican Republic by then... a place with a good climate, cheap healthcare, and good food. Here's hoping you've diversified well into some international assets, currencies, and hard commodities.
Now, will this come to pass? No one can say with any degree of certainty, but you can no longer assign a 0% probability to it.