Jonah, that Saletan closer is a thing of beauty. What I find slightly unnerving is the curious determination of the contemporary left to attribute political differences to some other factor – to genetic predisposition, to mental illness (“homophobia”, “Islamophobia” et al) or, when all else fails, criminality (it’s not enough for Bush to have a different view on the merits of toppling Saddam, he also has to have “lied” and committed crimes worthy of impeachment in the pursuit of said policy).

I don’t know where this is headed, but it can’t be conducive to civil politics in a constitutional democracy.