Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Here is Peg Kaplan's latest post. Peg is in Houston, playing bridge. She probably flew right over me on her way down from Minnesota. In case you're wondering why I changed the title from "Pegs" to "Peg," I've stopped reading Peggy Noonan's columns. She is a beltway conservative, which is to say not a conservative at all. She is more interested in not upsetting her progressive friends than in defending conservative values. This is true of many so-called conservatives, from Fred Barnes to David Frum to David Brooks to George Will to Charles Krauthammer to Ross Douthat (the new "conservative" columnist of the New York Times) to John McCain to Michael Steele. Martin Luther King Jr said (in 1963) that "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will." I have no patience for elitist conservatives: people who look down their noses at Harriet Miers and Sarah Palin; people who defend free trade (thereby putting the almighty dollar ahead of patriotism); people who favor amnesty for illegal immigrants. I have the utmost respect (and affection) for populist conservatives such as Pat Buchanan, Michelle Malkin, and Rush Limbaugh (which is not to say that I agree with them on every issue).