Spring 1993 was the very obvious beginning of the slide into the abyss. But in 1994 the voters "fixed" that with a huge red wave - only to watch Republican leadership quickly back away from the Contract they had made with America. If Newt Gingrich had the courage to zero out large parts of the Federal budget in early 1995 and make it stick, the republic could have been saved. Official Washington was terrified the GOP was actually going to do it.
GWB's later refusal in 2001 to clean out all of the Clinton holdovers - a decision made under huge pressure from the media to act "bipartisan" after his tiny victory - ended any chance of recovery.