Thoughts on policy, history, faith, baseball when I get around to it, waterfowl, and life in general by a junior attorney who'd much rather have Jonah Goldberg's job. Or possibly Darin Erstad's.

 
Working in the legal profession, I'm surrounded by conventional-wisdom NPR/PBS left-liberals. Over and over again, they express wonderment at how I could possibly be a conservative, being far too well-mannered, well-read, educated, physically fit, etc. (I'm starting to think they're just flattering me to get me to take on more of their work.) They honestly seem to think that conservatives are all drawling, irrational, bad-haired and big-bellied hicks.

George W. Bush is hated by these people not for what he's done, but for what he is. Except the "what he is" that these people hate, is a caricature. Respectable left-liberals hint darkly that he's setting the country on a course towards fascism or theocracy -- fever-swamp slanders made with increasing frequency, and in increasingly respectable quarters, by people who either don’t recognize or don’t care that they’re slandering millions of their neighbors at the same time.

If Kerry wins, the Democrats won’t question their myths. Left unchecked, they will strengthen and fester. Democracy requires that the side that comes in second has to be willing to accept the verdict of the voters. When you honestly think the other side is fascist, that's impossible. You don't accept government by Nazis, ever, democratically elected or not. Perpetuation of left-liberals’ conceit that theirs is the only respectable opinion is a real threat to republican government – a more fragile thing than I think many left-liberals assume.
posted by Thomas at 3:15 PM