You last few posts have been really astonishing. I suppose there's nothing I can say to make you change your mind, not that anyone ever changes his mind about anything in a forum like this, but I still owe it to you and the eavesdroppers to respond to your comments.

You apparently are convinced that there is a substantial number of people in this country that are determined that the United States should lose its war in Iraq. Furthermore, they feel this way because they are anxious to discredit American values and undermine American power by any means they can. In addition, these people have an inordinate amount of power in the media, academia, literature, the arts, in fact, in almost every institution except commerce and the evangelical churches; and that they are attempting to grasp total political power as well. You have mentioned in other posts that this is not a traditional cabal of conspirators, with a leadership, a hierarchical structure, a budget and a specific agenda; but that it is some sort of self-perpetuating cultural meme that is blooming out of control and extending itself throughout society, attempting to replace the natural and wholesome attitudes and cultural norms which usually characterize this nation.

Well, you're mistaken. It would be tempting to simply respond that the conservative movement is more accurately described this way than the liberal, but I don't really accept that either. I submit there is a spectrum of opinion and agenda in this society, that it varies regionally, temporally, by economic class and a host of other variables, and that it manifests itself by alliances and changes, and even an occasional change of direction. I also hold that individuals may hold different views on different issues which often defy the constellation of beliefs we usually label with the tags right and left.

How do I know this? Well I obviously disagaree with you on many (not all) issues but I am neither a member of any conspiracy nor its unwilling dupe. The first would make me a villain, the second a fool, and I know I am neither. I see too much variation and even conflict with people who challenge your views for me to accept they are part of any consistent viewpoint. Neither can I conceive of any social dynamic or self-interest which could give birth to this meme and sustain it against such powerful social opposition and it's own self-destructive results. After all, you have conceded they are not a formally organized force, there is no 21st century equivalent of the Comintern to install and promote it, no religious belief to justify it, no business interest to financially benefit from it, in short, it is simply a mind-set determined to create mischief for no reason at all except sheer malice. Oh sure, no doubt one could point out individual and local exceptions to these constraints, but there is no overall philosophy or pattern. We can't blame the Communists any more, and as anyone who studies the left as you do knows, they were the only ones on the left with any organization, consistency or discipline.

No, what I think is happening is that the world and the nation, are going through one of their periodic changes, that you find these changes unsettling and foreboding (you won't get any argument from me there!) and that you are troubled that the policies and programs you feel are required to mitigate these changes are being opposed. You cannot understand how others with the same evidence before their eyes as your could possibly come to different conclusions, so you can only conclude that it must be a directed and malignant fifth column that is determined to frustrate the obvious solutions to our problems. Either that, or a herd of cowards and fools who refuse to accept the truth before their eyes. You not only reject people who disagree with your program, you seem to be determined to expose and discredit any one who disagrees with any part of your program.

Don't take this personally, everybody feels this way about some things,
and at some time each of us has spent too much effort at defending a particular point or opinion which we came to regret later on. In short, it's a spectrum of ideology and our position on it is fluid, and our rigidity on our position varies from person to person and for each person over time. Cultural positions solidify into political ideologies when people come to feel they have a strong personal stake, usually financial or religious or ideological on the outcome. And once they reach that point, every other consideration is subordinated to that issue and no compromise can be tolerated.

I know it's only my opinion, and I know I can't prove it to your satisfaction, but I am convinced there is no sinister internal social force out to deliberately subvert the country, from either right or left. (Foreign enemies...that's another story.) There is only a wide variety of opinions and a lot of conflict between them, and the power struggle shifts around back and forth, just like you'd expect in a democracy. Oh sure, there are extremists all over the place and as my favorite band Spirit used to sing, "everyone's looking out for their woman, reaching out for their dollar." But you can take my word for it, their is no MSM conspiracy, there's just a lot of people out there who don't agree with you on everything. What you probably don't realize is that most of them agree with you on some things.