Well, yeah, this is GeekSpeak, but we got here through a path that began with geekiness and examined the political implications of technology. Besides, this is one of the two boards that I still moderate directly, so I'm willing to pull rank and indulge myself in talking about whatever the heck I want to talk about.

Thanks, I think :8~\

My remarks were intended to be complimentary. It's been too easy, with the radicals dominating the conversation, to forget that Conservatives aren't a monolithic bunch, and that once upon a time Conservatives represented virtues that most people could recognize even if they disagreed strongly with specific policies and implementations.

I'll let you in on a little secret: There are times in the debates between Liberals and Conservatives that being the Liberal feels a bit like being a teenager arguing with your parents. You might know you're right and be supremely confident in your position, but Classic Conservatives, like parents, have the knack of inducing an uneasy sense that somehow you're still wrong, that your shiny new idea is inferior compared to the certainties of the past, that it's somehow wrong anyway, perhaps in moral dimension you can't quite see. What the modern conservatives seem to have forgotten, with their pleas of victimization and underdoghood, is that a Classic Conservative permanently occupies a vague high ground which shifts the burden of proof on to those who would disagree.

That's as it should be, I think. The burden of proof should reasonably be on those who advocate change, and American Conservatives have traditionally been the safeguard against screwball notions. The dour skepticism of the Classic Conservative formed a useful filter. As long as each side got its way about half the time, America could continue to move forward with some degree of confidence that things would turn out all right in the long run.

That's why I view such notions as a "permanent Republican majority" to be a threat to the American way. It upsets the balance and removes the dynamic tension that's served us so well for two centuries. Holding power permanently is just not the American way to do things.

As in the last Prez election, many times I fnd myself in the booth with the ballot wondering why I am bothering. As a rule I can't abide any choices I have. Often to the point of skipping entire sections of the ballot because I cannot force myself to vote for the choices offered.

Opinion polls suggest that Republican voters may tend to stay away from the polls this time around, and I interpret that as the honorable decision to withhold support for a GOP that's out of control, while also not providing "aid and comfort" to the Democrats. It'd be totally unreasonable to expect Republicans to switch sides, especially not the disaffected Classics whose beef is entirely with their own party's leadership and whose opinion of Democrats is no doubt entirely unchanged. Punish Republican politicians with a humiliating electoral defeat, and the Party will be motivated to reform itself. Nothing else will cure what's wrong with the GOP today.

I want you guys to take back your party. I want my Classic Conservatives back! I'm sorry I didn't appreciate you when you were the only game in town, but I know better now. There are indeed many things worse than being a Classic Conservative.