[Professor S]

Bond, I just fear that you're throwing the baby our with the bath water over ideas that, IMO, are small when you look at the big picture. To me, the big picture is giving the current congress that might have a filibuster proof majority a socialist (or shudder the thought, marxist) President. We could feel the effects of a such a disastrous election for 30-50 years, especially in the supreme court where Obama's choices will affect at least two generations of Americans in very important areas(property rights, consitutional issues, states rights, etc.). What did you think of the embed in my last post? Did it move you at all (hopefully)?

Amd the intellectual Republicans I mention are those like Noonan, Will, Brooks and Powell, all of whom have had serious issues with the social republican far right wing of the party and Palin in particular. Trust me, I sympathize. I've often wanted to see a push towards a third party of Pragmatic Conservatives who push for reasonable social and economic freedoms, regulated through currency management and cattle shute regulation, but not the punitive actions of FDR's regime, inspired by the progressive movement of the early 20th century.

My fear is that sometimes we can be so impassioned about how social conservatoives, or as I refer to them "useful idiots", are getting in the way of real progress that we put the idea of the perfect in the way of the good. In these cases, we vote for someone like Obama, more out of disgust for some of the pandering of our own party than in agreement with theirs. I think this is more destructive than helpful to democracy in general.