Newt Gingrich is rarely conservative, at least when it comes to prognostication.
The former Speaker of the House, who in a 1984 book predicted that the gravity-free environment of space stations would provide an ideal workplace for the disabled, has spent much of the time since his abrupt 1998 resignation reexamining his crystal ball.
What he has seen, as contained in his online treatise, "The Age of Transitions," is a government that more closely resembles the private sector: Smaller, cheaper, less partisan and personalized to suit the wants and needs of its customers.
Before launching into his vision of a brave new bureaucracy, Gingrich leads off with a predictably sweeping condemnation of government in the year 2000.
"Government and bureaucracy are changing at a dramatically slower rate [than the private sector]," he writes, "and the gap between the potential goods and services, productivity, efficiencies and conveniences being created, and the traditional behaviors of government and bureaucracy is getting wider."
Gingrich claims this digital divide will create an opportunity for a movement centered around the efficient delivery of goods and services, rather than any particular political ideology, to become the dominant majority.
While it may be tempting to dismiss Gingrich's future-gazing as the bitter ruminations of an exiled politico, the Georgian has a respectable record when it comes to predicting the impact of technological advances.
In his 1984 book, Window of Opportunity, Gingrich accurately foresaw the integral role that home computers would play in late 20th-century life, at a time when Bill Gates' wealth could still be measured on a handheld calculator.
If he proves equally prescient this time around, the life of the average federal manager could change dramatically as government morphs into a slimmed-down, 24-7, public-private venture in which the middle man disappears and any job that can be codified and standardized is done by an "expert system" rather than a person.
It may all seem unlikely, but then, not so long ago, the notion of a Republican occupying the House Speaker's seat was regarded as similarly dubious. As Gingrich is uniquely qualified to attest, sometimes change comes quickly to government.