Dissention in the Ranks?

I feel a glimmer of hope for our country this morning, for the first time in months, because of this article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Some background. For those who are not familiar with Grover Norquist, he's widely regarded as one of the five or six major forces behind the neo-conservative movement. He is perhaps most well known for a quote in which he expressed a wish to shrink the Federal government down so small that it could be drowned in a bathtub. And he runs "Americans for Tax Reform", one of the major groups consistently pushing for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations.

So you understand, he's part of "the team". He's an insider and one of the driving forces of the group. So when the article I linked to quotes him as being uncomfortable with the Bush NSA wiretapping plan, it's good to see that there can be issues so odious that even the much vaunted and well coordinated neocons are willing to break with the party line.

But here's the money quote:

"For 40 years we always assumed the left would take care of our civil liberties," he said. "If there were problems, the Democrats were the ones who would push back. But now with a Republican Congress and a Republican in the White House, the ACLU can't get their calls returned."

This demonstrates that even one of the neocon elite agrees with my contention that BOTH parties are necessary in this country, and that either party having access to its agenda without an effective opponent safeguarding their agenda is damaging to our country.

I don't often agree with Grover Norquist, but I do here. It's nice to see that he realizes that it's the existence of a strong opposition that makes it safe for extremists to push for their agendas, knowing others will catch the important side issues that they miss in their extremism.

Liam.