Constitutional Conservatives

Recently I read a lot about constitutional conservatives.

Some are "loyal to our Constitution, our founding fathers and the good institutions and social contrivances brought into being by those principles" according to Tony Blankley-a far right commentator who is still mired in the the states vs federal rights debate despite the fact that the Confederates lost the Civil War.

Mr Blankley seems to forget that there exists one group of people who are constitutional "literalists", and another group who are constitutional "original intentists". After reading some of his articles I think being a constitutional conservative means "my opinion is right", especially if the opposition when to an Ivy League school and drinks Chablis and eats brie!

Others are like ex-Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty who thinks that being a constitutional conservative includes taking a nine-iron and smashing the window out of big government and warns liberals that he is "planting the flag on constitutional ground. And if you try to take our freedoms, we will fight back". He continues in this vein, "We're on the side of the rule of law. We're on the side of limited government. And like Grant, we fight". And lastly, he forgets the separation of Church and State, "Americans need to accept that 'God's in charge".

What these two conservatives have succeeded in doing is convincing me that demagoguery is not dead in the US even if one can only hope it is dying.