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I have something to say about realism. I very recently had a huge argument with a friend who is a die-hard law-and order Republican (note that I'm NOT calling him a Conservative). I've known him for 25 years, and he's one of my closest friends. I know him well. He opposed the notion of voting for a third party on the grounds that they would never win, that the system absolutely couldn't be changed. The politicians "work the system", and there is nothing anyone can do about it. He called me an idealist, and himself a realist. We went on to debate the war on terror, taxes, and gun rights. I should note here that he works with cops all day and has a keen interest in law enforcement concerns. He was for mandatory registration of all firearms, on the premise that if you don't break the law, you have nothing to fear. He felt that owning anything more than a pistol or hunting rifle was too much. He felt that America should "bend other countries to our will" and should literally take over the entire world. He then went on to pronounce that people who make more money than he does (mid 40's, which in Philly isn't much) should pay a lot more taxes so people like him could be helped, since helping your fellow man was the Christian thing to do. The rationale was that they didn't need the extra money, and God says so. Never mind that it was at gunpoint, as I repeatedly pointed out. The mantra was the same: "but they don't NEED it!" He could have gone on to quote the Communist Manifesto and I wouldn't have been surprised. My point is, there is a definite place for idealism. My friend, who would sooner cut his arm off than vote Democratic, has forgotten what it means to be a Conservative and has become more of an Authoritarian. A Conservative he most definitely is not; it's all about the "Republican club", and his us-vs.-them mentality. When this sort of thing happens, I see it as a real crisis. There is a cancer that's starting to creep through our ranks. The idealists are performing a service; they're there to keep the rest of us from forgetting why we care about all this in the first place. Otherwise we might as well hang it all up.