Mr Perstein:
Two part question:
made my strongest such claim in a Village Voice article two weeks ago in which I, after much thought, chose to say conservatism was "verging on becoming an un-American creed" for the widespread way conservatives are ignoring the lessons of James Madison's great insights in Federalist 51 that in America we are supposed to place our ultimate trust in laws, not men.
Mr Perstein:
Two part question:
1. What examples can you site of conservatives doing what you claim above?
2. Is it your claim that liberals do not engage in this behavior?
Thank you...
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1. Did you read the article? Read "Church of Bush" and you'll find my cites.
2. There is a specific warning in Fed 51: that charismatic leaders will seek to change the institutions of government to favor themselves. Yes, I think conservatives do this more egregiously. Tip O'Neill once kept a congressional vote open for 15 minutes to twist arms, and that was not kosher. By contrast, Tom DeLay and Hastert kept the medicare vote open for THREE HOURS, and threatened a congressman that they would destroy his son's congressional campaign if he did not vote that way. Yes, politics is a tough game. But Republicans have recently been stretching their indecency beyond bounds.
RP