THE GOP GETS BIT BY ONE OF ITS OWN NARRATIVES

(h/t Atrios)

The GOP routinely prattles on about freedom for the individual and how evul socialists would limit that freedom. Of course, when someone criticizes American policy, they then change tack and point out how ungrateful the person is considering all the opportunities America offered him or her. They thus acknowledge that SOCIETY and SOCIAL ISSUES are important, contrary to their absurd elevation of individualism.

Jack Balkin provides a good analysis (h/t Digby) of why the Supreme Court hasn't gone along with the radical conservative plan to re-write the Constitution and one of the reasons he gives is American's sense of individual liberty and distrust of Big Government. As the fear induced by 9-11 wore off, Americans came to be wary of the Unitary Executive and its claims to extraordinary Presidential power. Balkin put it well:

(Ironically, the very distrust of government that movement conservatism responded to worked against Bush's revolution.)