BASEHOR, Kan. - Conservatives have no monopoly on a "this is the way it should be" approach to life. Progressives certainly are no strangers to telling others how the world should be. My main point, expressed much more eloquently by Jonathan Haidt, is that progressives seem more open to asking questions, exploring new ideas, and challenging the status quo than conservatives are. And that conservatives seem more willing to engage in ad hominem attacks or Frank Luntz-type word play (death panels, traitors, socialists) when they decide they can't refute fact or scientific evidence.

When I was a freshman in college, my first scientific method professor hammered into us that there's no such thing as "proof," and that if a scientist used that word then, well, he really wasn't a scientist.

Basehor, Kans.--Read The Republican Brain on the Republican Brain and laugh, weep, or scream.

For an even more nuanced approach, something that conservatives in general and Republicans in particular don't seem very capable of, watch a video of Jonathan Haidt's work.

As Justice Learned Hand once penned, "The mark of a free man is that ever-gnawing inner uncertainty as to whether or not he is right." And Julian Huxley, "To become truly adult we must learn to bear the burden of incertitude." This idea seems to be almost anathema to conservatives, who see the world in black/white, right/wrong, either/or, yes/no, my-way-or-the-highway terms.

BASEHOR, Kan. - The Wall Street Journal editorial in the August 6-7 edition, titled Repatriation Games, extolls the economic miracles that would abound if U.S. multi-national corporations were allowed to "repatriate" their foreign-earned capital to the United States at atrociously low tax rates. New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, in spite of his everyman-champion image, is a shill for Wall Street and has proposed a one-year, 5.25% repatriation rate. Economist Allen Sinai, in the same editorial, is reported to have estimated that there is more than $1 trillion abroad waiting to be repatriated -- if only the rates go down.

Unfortunately, the editorial leaves out one inconvenient fact when it comes to the argument that repatriation of foreign capital will produce jobs: lack of customer demand.

BASEHOR, Kan. - The August 3 Wall Street Journal opinion piece Bill Clinton Does 'Jim Crow', seems to present a straw issue with little substance in the larger scheme of things.

I realize that some on the Left see any attempt by charlatans like Kris Kobach to impose voter identification as un-American, but is this really an issue that Progressives want to go to the mat on?

If I have to produce ID to set up a bank account, write a check at a retail store, get on an airplane, rent a car, stay in a hotel, or even obtain a library card, I can't for the life of me see why I shouldn't have to produce identification if I'm going to exercise my most fundamental right as a citizen. I understand the argument that, as a fundamental right of American citizenship, the right to vote should not be infringed.

BASEHOR, Kan. - The poor Republicans. They've been in such a hurry to run to the microphone to denounce anything that runs afoul of their cherished "no taxes, no regulation" ideology that they've neglected to notice that they're increasingly becoming irrelevant as a party of ideas. In a sign that those cracks are growing ever larger, Senator Tom Coburn, (R) Oklahoma, submitted a bill for consideration that would eliminate tax subsidies for the ethanol boondoggle, something that Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, said amounted to a tax increase.

Fareed Zakaria, in his recent Time Magazine opinion piece, wrote about conservatives' outmoded ideology, saying,

Consider the debates over the economy. The Republican prescription is to cut taxes and slash government spending -- then things will bounce back. Now, I would like to see lower rates in the context of tax simplification and reform, but what is the evidence that tax cuts are the best path to revive the U.S. economy? Taxes -- federal and state combined -- as a percentage of GDP are at their lowest level since 1950. The U.S. is among the lowest taxed of the big industrial economies. So the case that America is grinding to a halt because of high taxation is not based on facts but is simply a theoretical assertion. The rich countries that are in the best shape right now, with strong growth and low unemployment, are ones like Germany and Denmark, neither one characterized by low taxes.

BASEHOR, Kan.- Kimberley Strassel, in a November 12 Wall Street Journal opinion piece, desperately exhorted the Republican Party to hold the line on earmarks.

I say "desperately" because she admitted that it will be extremely difficult to align big-business Republicans who want every bit of pork and special interest legislation they can gobble up, with the Tea Party, which claims it wants no earmarks at all in the name of fiscal conservatism. What's truly telling from Strassel, whose everyday invective makes her sound like an Ann Coulter wannabe, is this:

Republicans are not going to be able to repeal ObamaCare, are unlikely to be able to permanently extend the Bush tax rates, and will struggle to roll back the worst Obama regulations. But an earmark ban is one exception they can fulfill. Immediately.

BASEHOR, Kan. - In the past 12 hours, through a conversation at a party, and a magazine article, I've had confirmation of something that's been bothering me for months.

Last night I sat and talked with a woman whom I've met a couple of times before at parties. While we've never talked politics before, last night we discussed our feelings and attitudes about the current situation with the Federal government, and politics in general. She allowed as how she generally votes for Republican candidates, although she does her homework and votes for the candidate rather than the party. She said that, of all the politicians she could think of, the one who impressed her the most was Bill Clinton. She went on at some length about his intellectual brilliance, policy wonkishness, and command of seemingly trivial details that made the difference in so many arm-twisting sessions with political opponents. And, despite her grave disappointment in his philandering, she still gave him the benefit of the doubt when it came to governing. My response, which I've made numerous times before, is that even the most conservative among the American people would much rather trust a philanderer than they'd trust someone who'd steal their money and tell them it was for their own good--i.e., Republicans. She laughed and said that she agreed.

BASEHOR, Kan. - In this month's Harper's magazine, the magazine's Washington editor, Ken Silverstein, puts together a scary picture of what right-wing Republican, Tea Party, no-taxes governance in action looks like.

Look no farther than Arizona.

BASEHOR, Kan. - I'm torn. I can see both sides of an issue that's very dear to me: General Aviation flying, particularly from small community airports. As a smartaleck once said, "If a man can see both sides of a problem, you know that none of his money is tied up in it." Well, that's me: I don't have any money tied up in it directly. But, as a taxpayer and a community supporter, I do have money tied up in it.

There's a major effort underway in General Aviation (GA) to save as many small- and medium-sized airports as possible from shutting down and, at the same time, to protect the users of those airports from increased fees and taxes. General Aviation, by the way, is a term that refers to just about anything other than scheduled passenger service by the airlines.

BASEHOR, Kan. - Congress has provided funds through the Citizen Corps to assist local communities in quick response to emergency situations--particularly when first responders may be overwhelmed. These local programs, called Community Emergency Response Teams, allow groups of trained citizens to literally "care for themselves" by being first on the scene when disaster strikes. They're able to self organize and provide immediate assistance to their friends and neighbors while waiting for first responders. A multi-part training program is available, free of charge, to those who are interested.