A friend of mine has been brainwashed...

So there's a friend of mine who has been brainwashed into being very vocal about his support of the conservative agenda.

But he's not a social conservative. It wouldn't surprise me that in a few years he'll find a wife, listen to Rush Limbaugh, and start reading the Bible every night, but as of right now I'm pretty sure all of those things still make him cringe.

But those are the things that are unifying his party. It's not a "big tent" party. They'll never support Christie Todd Whitman for president. Sure, they'll let her under the tent, but they'll keep her off the stage at primaries. Ronald Reagan certainly wouldn't get a nomination nowadays. (Barry Goldwater REALLY wouldn't) The Republican party that inspired the Governator, the party of Nixon, would also be left on the sidelines of this new "big tent."

So this friend is a Libertarian; he's just afraid to admit it. He likes being called a Republican, especially now that they're the regime in power.

[ did you know Alexander Hamilton, an architect of the separation of powers, said that the whole way our government could fail was if one party took control of both the executive and the legislative and managed to appoint judges? ]

He doesn't support any of their social initiatives, but he brushes them off. He doesn't think that's that important. After all, they don't legislate social issues anyway (or, wait, do they? gay marriage? Terry Shiavo?)...

He certainly doesn't want to go Democrat because he's grown up in an environment where Democrats were thought of as uneducated dogooders. (however, his party insists that Democrats form an educated liberal elite that is trying to rule the country from the sidelines... and his party insists that it is the party of doing good... so I don't see how that's consistent)

If he met Anne Coulter in person and didn't realize who she was, I think he'd hate her.

But he insists he's a Republican.

Now, I don't think he should find a way to label himself a "liberal." I don't think he's a liberal. I just think he's smarter than a strict conservative. And I don't think the Republican party is the party for him. But they're going to continue to confuse him and brainwash him into voting their way... Even though he doesn't come close to sharing their values. It's sad. It's scarey.

The world's going to hell, and the conservatives are driving the bus.