Your point is well-taken.  This president gets hit with multiple realities on a daily basis and still refuses to accept the truth, or he is not bright enough to realize that he is destroying the economy.  Yes, of course polls can be manipulated, and those who participated in the poll can give responses to make the numbers less representative (but all polls suffer from this.)  Yet, Democrats make up more than 25% of the electorate, so they cannot all be trying to bolster Obama in the poll.  At least some of them are seeing what he refuses to see (or cannot see.)  You ask a great question and I wonder how many of us would deceive a pollster to make our own favored politician look good.  I am inclined to say no, unless I thought the poll question was intentionally designed to artificially inflate the popularity of a president whose policies I opposed.

It is quite revealing to look over the inaugural addresses of the presidents and see how references to the Constitution are central to their message during the first century after independence, and how the Constitution is rarely mentioned any longer.  It is revealing, but not surprising.  Americans have discarded the Constitution and have embraced government as the supreme protector and provider. 

Good post, and yes, conservatives are just as easily persuaded to follow ideas that are dangerous to liberty.  For this reason, citizens were trusted to keep a careful eye on those who hold power (or seek to hold power.)  Citizenship is hard work, and most of us have failed to act as responsible citizens.  I respect Dr. Sowell, but even the brightest among us are deceived at times.  I credit Sowell for seeing the light.

To understand the Brooks piece it is necessary to understand the core elements of neoconservatism, and Brooks himself.  Neoconservatives have no principles at all, they believe in nothing and seek nothing more than pulling the Republican Party away from what neocons think of as antiquated ideas (such as limited government, unbridled capitalism, and low taxes) and forcing them to adapt to the current political climate.  Neoconservatives have always been critical of principled Republicans and conservatives who believe in the ideals upon which the republic was founded.  Essentially, what Brooks is saying is that Republicans need to accept the fact that Americans no longer desire limited government and limited taxation, and that in order to be a viable political party the GOP must embrace some elements of the progressive-socialist ideology.

Lincoln was not the great emancipator: he freed the slaves because it was necessary to achieve his broader political and economic goals.  Lincoln never believed that Africans were equal to others and preferred to colonize them above all other options.  Lincoln brutalized the South and damaged the Constitution, forcing the southern states into war. Arguably, the war was not necessary as slavery was already a dying institution and there were other means to bring about its demise.  The United States was the only country in the world that resorted to war to end the institution of slavery.  Northerners opposed compensation because they did not want freed slaves living in their towns and cities.  And the result of LIncoln's war was Reconstruction, which directly led to the racial problems of the 20th century. 

I find The Great Gatsby to be one of the most powerful and insightful novels in American literary history. Dull and unenlightening?  Then you must have no interest in human nature or exploring the depths of the human soul.  Gatsby is one of those novels where there is more between the lines than in the lines, and if you skim through the novel you will miss half of what is really going on.  The power is in its subtleties. Many readers today want the author to spell everything out for them in great detail, but Fitzgerald is a master because he requires the reader to actually think and make connections that are not so obvious.  

John, I agree.  They claim to be concerned over the problems with modern education, but they have created most of them.

You make some excellent points here, and you are correct on every one.  The ruling class is knowingly contributing to the decline of our country by opening the doors and giving the barbarians whatever they demand, in exchange for their political support.  Centuries from now, historians will look back and wonder why Americans did not see what was happening in front of their eyes, much like we wonder how the Romans could have given it all away.  

Thanks for your comment.  I, too, am tired of those who claim that since McCain suffered for his country in war that somehow we have to accept his outrageous political comments or that we have to excuse his support of policies that are anything but conservative or constitutional.  And the whole "maverick" image is embraced by the leftist media for their support of any Republican who criticizes members of his own party.  That McCain felt it necessary to choose someone like Sarah Palin reveals that he knew it was necessary to choose a conservative in order to bolster his campaign within conservative political circles. Essentially, he uses conservatives when he needs to convince others that he is a conservative.  

@river, good points.  I do believe we are in the final stages of the war to completely transform America into the progressive-socialist utopia.  As they say, eventually they will (have) run out of other people's money and their system will collapse upon itself.  Perhaps then it will be too late.

@raycon, you make a great point.  I did not mean to suggest that the progressive-socialists really oppose big business, because they secretly need big business to exist as a viable political force and to fund their ever-expanding government.  My point was really focused on the way the Left portrays business in the media and in our political discourse.  Thanks for sharing your comments.

Well, I would add that there is a big difference between Reagan and Bush to real conservatives.  I don't ever want to return to Bush either (either one of them), so I am not ready to buy into the premise that this quip from Romney is somehow symbolic of a secret disdain for small government and low taxes. Perhaps, Romney bought into the fear that most Republican candidates have, which is the fear of being conservative and the fear that if they do not repudiate other conservatives then they are not independent thinkers.   At the same time, your column makes a good point and we should question the motives of our Republican presidential candidates to better understand their principles and philosophy.

I have serious concerns about citizen referendums as they threaten to turn a constitutional republic into a direct democracy where the immediate passions of the people become law without being filtered through a series of checks and balances.  The founders studied various forms of government throughout human history and sought to create system that would be best for the people and for their liberty, and they concluded that direct democracies are dangerous and short-lived.

Money spent by the private sector and individuals has a much more dramatic and long-lasting impact on the economy than does government spending.  I disagree with Prof. Kelton's premise.  It seems that we will never learn from history.  No country can spend its way into prosperity, although no country has tried so hard to accomplish this goal than the United States.  

~The leftist media wants us to believe that Obama is so intensely focused on his country that he needs frequent breaks; consequently, they excuse his frequent golf outings.