The Death of the Republican Intellectual

An acquaintance of mine who writes over on Livejournal has written a thoughtful piece about The Death of the Republican Intellectual. Here's a nice excerpt that sums up a lot of what I've been seeing on his blog for the past few years:

First they came for the war protestors, but I thought it was important to support our troops so I said nothing. Then they came for the Muslims, but I saw a scary guy on TV so I said nothing. Then they came for the persistently vegetative medical patients, but I'm still in good health so I said nothing. Then they came for the married homosexuals, but I'm married to a lady so I said nothing. Then they came for the civil libertarians, but I thought "I have nothing to hide" so I said nothing. Then they came for the biologists and climatologists, but I thought that the scientific consensus on evolution and climate change wasn't quite strong enough so I said nothing. Then they came for the elitists, but I've only got a master's degree from a state school so I said nothing. And that's why this year it's just me and a bunch of GED-educated pentecostal luddite homophobes holding "Sarah Palin 2012" signs.

Tongodeon lives and works in the Bay Area. He's been an internet acquaintance of mine for about 15 years and almost always has something interesting and readable to say.