I don’t think the nation has *drifted* much to the right at all.

There have been two major changes during the last several years. First, like career politicians before them, the media outlets which have sought to control public perception and opinion have lost their stranglehold, along with a lot of their credibility. An alternative viewpoint has begun to just peek around the curtain they’ve been desperately trying for decades to keep drawn back. Second, there’s been a vocal, growing backlash reaction to the disconnect between objective Reality and the politically correct, “mainstream” notions that our media, politicians and acedemia have presented as reality. Two years ago, I had no idea there were so many people who agreed with folks like Bill Whittle, for instance (http://tinyurl.com/6ztpe). Now I know there are tens of thousands of them. The nation didn’t shift. But perception of where I thought the country stood – as a nation – most certainly did.

I’d submit, therefore, that the U.S. was never, ever as “left” as we were all led to believe. I think the only shift has been our slowly growing awareness of that fact.

And if true, that makes the fringes out in Madagascar all the more interesting, doesn’t it?

I think this is a very apt metaphor, Call. I’m a relative newbie to the whole political scene, but I was astonished to discover that my liberal ideals weren’t “liberal enough�. I find it amusing that I can engage in a reasoned discussion with a conservative much more easily than I can with a “liberal�.

See, “liberal enough” doesn’t cut it. Not anymore. There is much more to factor in. If you don’t believe in most of the party line, there seems to be a price to pay. All I want are some reasonsible people to express their opinions. Raising the discouse is the most important part.

I think this is a very apt metaphor, Call. I’m a relative newbie to the whole political scene, but I was astonished to discover that my liberal ideals weren’t “liberal enough”. I find it amusing that I can engage in a reasoned discussion with a conservative much more easily than I can with a “liberal”.

As the country drifts right, the “anchored� left stays put, and cracks off from the center left. A gap opens and the disconnected fringe becomes an island adrift, a Madagascar, where natural traits exaggerate and exotic species evolve.

I think both sides have their “island” dwellers. ;-)