What Independents Want

David Brooks is a token "conservative" sitting on The Senile Old Lady's mantle above the fireplace.  Only the New York Times could consider this squishy middler (but quite good writer!) a conservative.

He's a good enough guy.  I read him often, and I even agree with him sometimes.  I really like this:

If I were a politician trying to win back independents, I’d say something like this: When I was a kid, I had a jigsaw puzzle of the U.S. Each state was a piece, and on it there was a drawing showing what people made there. California might have movies; Washington State, apples; New York, fashion or publishing. That puzzle represented an economy that was diverse and deeply rooted. 

We’ve lost that. First Wall Street got disproportionately big, then Washington. It’s time to return to fundamentals. No short-term fixes. Government should do what it’s supposed to do: schools, roads, basic research. It should not be picking C.E.O.’s or setting pay or fizzing up the economy with more debt. It should give people the tools to compete, not rig the competition. Lines of restraint have dissolved, and they need to be restored.

 Amen!  The Feral Government needs to retreat behind its constitutional boundaries and free the entrepreneurial spirit that exists in state and local communities.  One size does not fit all, Nancy!  As for Wall Street gamblers and inept car manufacturers?  Freedom also means the freedom to fail...

NY Times - David Brooks