I'm still making my way through TurboTax.

I like to savor the experience. ;)

So true.  I think that everyone on this site, to say the least, should ask themselves: "must I truly give my children over to state education? Is there no other way?"

If you are not homeschooling or utilizing some kind of private school, I hope that you have seriously questioned whether you have really done the right thing for your children. You will ultimately answer one way or another for how you trained them. I believe that the default position among conservatives in general and Christians in particular should be not to use public school unless there is a compelling reason to do so.

This is what I hope that many libertarians will come to see. The vision of an America where religion and moral imperatives are chased indoors to a sort of cultural house arrest in the name of liberty is a dangerous wish. It will only create a vacuum that will be filled by this religion of State.  We are under no threat from some imagined Christian theocracy. But we are under threat from a postmodern Progressive theocracy with the State as the official established church.

M

I'm with No Ceasar on this one. I think it is time for us to go on offense. We can find much to unite us (and attract the swayable middle) by focusing on the repugnant aspects of the left. I don't shy from labeling them racists whatsoever. They are preoccupied with race. They cynically use race to manipulate voters and to defame people. They operate in direct opposition to MLK's dream of judging people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.  They shamelessly look at people as members of a group and not individuals. The left benefits from minorities staying stuck in poverty and dependence. Their policies have a distinct disparate impact. Isn't that enough grounds to cry racism? Let's not shy from this message. No Ceasar is right that this has worked for the left and we need to get over our squeamishness about punching back twice as hard.

YOU NAILED IT!!!    This is the ticket right here.  Our problem is we are playing defense. The democrats don't worry about their many internal contradictions.  They just attack and demonize the republicans. And it delights them to no end that we don't ever seem to learn how to punch back.

We don't have to worry about how to change in such a way as to lose the fewest people.  That is already conceding defeat. Let's learn how to attack and attack well. Let's demonize the progressive democrats dammit. They're easy targets.

Grendel said:

"Maybe I'm reading too much between the lines, here, but there is in your comments the kind of bitter totalitarian hostility typical of leftist ideologues such as feminists. They can't tolerate anyone having a different value system, and it really cheeses them off to see someone being happy with those choices."

I kind of picked up the same thing. As I read about Kelly I'm thinking about how I am a bit bemused that this woman finds the need to frame this insight in feminist-friendly terms. Nonetheless I'm grateful to hear the acknowledgement of the value of the traditional mom role. So, I can't quite see what the original poster's point is. I wish she would explain.

"God helps those who help themselves"  - somewhere in the Bible, right?

This always makes me clench my teeth because it is, of course, nowhere to be found in the Bible as often assumed.  In fact, it runs counter to true Christian theology. God helps the helpless. "He who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself before me will be exalted." (Luke 14:11) That being one example.

The quote in question can be used as a blithe justification for doing whatever we want. Mainly though, it just irritates me that people think it is scripture.

Sad to say that certain parts of America now seem beyond reach.  Sometimes it is necessary to heed the advice: "when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet".

Just listened to the podcast and Rob's comments made this the most irritating podcast in a while...and that was before Murphy came on. 

Hooray for Lileks (who needs to speak up more). Rob's position came across to me like someone who didn't want to seem uncool by standing up for the nerds being picked on in the lunch room. It made me wonder if the Hollywood milieu has permeated his otherwise recalcitrant conservative instincts.  

His characterization  of "whining" about union violence is a call for a preemptive surrender to lefty spin. I can't believe he thinks we should drop it and only focus on writing op-eds about right-to-work.  That incident was an iconic lesson for the country about the Left's seething intolerance. We must sieze upon such things for their powerful symbolic emotional impact. Fight fire with fire. Make them own that image. Label them as the thugs that they are. I loved Lileks' wording about donut-eating something or other. (Anyone recall how he put it?  It bears repeating.)

How about infidelity, abandonment, and abuse?  

"Her right to be promiscuous trumps our right to the fruits of our own labor."

This is a stark, almost rude, thing to say in our times. But it is undeniably true. 

I don't think a libertarian's misgivings are all that much more severe than a conservative's in this election.  I also don't think that the choice is any less obvious either. 

The thing that those who make this point always neglect to include is, what would have happened if the other side had won.  Would it be a rosier picture if Al Gore were president during 9/11 and it's aftermath?  Would we have been in better shape with John Kerry as commander-in-chief?  Maybe, but only if you build your case on the assumption that things would have been so much worse and we wouldn't have our finger prints on it that we would now be able to step in with a true mandate.  There's a lot of imagination in that assumption.

Bottom line: the alternative was still worse.

Umber Fractus,

I sure hope you are right. I'll be very happy to be proven wrong.  It will take remarkable skill and deal-making to get it done. The Democrats know how to play nasty, mean and to win-at-all-costs.  This is hard-won ground that they won't be in a mood to lose after losing an election.

I have wanted to write this post myself for quite some time.  I'm a bit surprised at how nearly unanimous the opinion of Hannity is around here. I assumed I did not have so much company. We can do so much better than him. I am still amazed that I can agree with someone so much, think he is a genuinely kind and warm-hearted man, be drawn in by his stellar guests and yet get so irritated at his show every single time.  When he starts to count on his fingers I start to reach for the remote.