The consensus of my e-mailers is: Reid and Company are doing it for the psycho left-wing money. I’m not sure I agree. I think the intensity of political polarization really does change the dynamic in Washington in a way that those of us who believe in the primacy of ideas and ideology should welcome. If the consensus view in the Democratic Party in 2006 holds that Alito should not serve on the Supreme Court because he is too right-wing, then isn’t it better that they should vote against him and seek to filibuster his nomination as a matter of principle rather than acquiesce in the nomination purely as a matter of political prudence?