BLOGGING AND SANTORUM

Well, over the weekend, after my cri de coeur on Saturday morning, I received another avalanche of emails, this time overwhelmingly supportive. I’ve tried to respond to most but forgive me if I haven’t. There were almost a thousand. There’s nothing much more to say. But I do think this last week has given me more appreciation for the blogging medium. I was able to write throughout an unfolding media and political event. I was able to link to the full remarks of Santorum, while almost all his defenders just ignored them. More to the point, your responses both informed, chastised, and then uplifted me – in real time. Nothing like this has occurred in the media with such immediacy and speed before. The criminalization of private sex is obviously an explosive issue, and emotions were very near the surface. But I think that’s all to the better. Emotion should never replace argument; but it’s more deceptive if we pretend it doesn’t exist at all. We’re all human. And I’ve learned a lot this past week – especially about elite conservative indifference to limited government, if it means offending the religious right. One factual note: I don’t consider myself a Republican. Never have. Given what some of the party base represent, I’m relieved not to carry that burden. It may be necessary to support Republicans at times – in the war on terror, for example, we have precious little choice right now. But no-one should ignore the dark thread of big-government intolerance that exists in the G.O.P. It’s still there; and it threatens you and me.