I don’t think I have mentioned our good friend Ames over at Submitted to a Candid World in awhile. If you haven’t visited his site, you should. Ames started his blog shortly after The Big Stick came into existence and I have greatly enjoyed reading his thoughts on a variety of subjects. He and I disagree frequently, but I have a good feeling if we ever meet in person we will enjoy arguing late into the evening in a New York bar or a Louisville pub and shake hands when it’s over. Ames is a smart guy and for a Yankee…he’s A-OK.

Today he has a post entitled “The Conservative Overreach” which I feel is a fantastic analysis of the current state of things. Omitting his comments on gun-control (watch the comments on his blog for that conversation) I found this piece refreshingly…Progressive. You will notice I use the revered capital P when I say that, because that’s what I call his post. It is an honest look at the pendelum of American politics and it achieves the Centrist tone we Progressives treasure. My promise to Ames? Write a couple more pieces like this and you’ve made it into the Board Certified Progressives list and I will quit teasing you about using the word. (Now if that isn’t motivation, I don’t know what is!)

As for the piece itself, Ames discusses the way conservatives capitalized on the overreach of liberals from 1968 forward, but then committed the same sin themselves. 

Previously we have discussed some of the problems that conservatives have created for themselves by allying themselves with evangelicals. We have also discussed how the additional influence of neo-cons on foreign policy was a mistake. Ames correctly points out that these to chickens have come home to roost under George W. Bush.

All this – together with the facts that even evangelical Christians are starting to feel played, and that John McCain is always on the defensive when talking about conservatism – suggests to me that America is fed up with conservatism, at least as applied by the Bush administration.

Perhaps this tendency to overreach is inevitable in American politics. Power corrupts, after all. One thing I would say we benefit from is that when voters reject this overreach, the movements are forced to look inward. One thing I have always been proud of conservatives about is that I think we do a better job of redefining ourselves verses rebranding. Hopefully this will be true again.

Great post by Ames, keep up the good work over there and we’ll keep reading it.