Conventiontal Wisdom Rules the Day

For all those of you who are too smart to ignore conventional wisdom, consider the sage words of Andrew Ferguson for The Weekly Standard about Fred Thompson. We are all worse off for his departure from the race. His was the most refreshing and heartening campaign I've seen in years. No "fire in the belly" was a frequent refrain describing him, but do we really want a candidate who is that ambitious? Caesar was killed for his ambition. It used to be virtuous not to be an overly ambitious politician, but now it's called laziness. Some of my best friends bought into and continue to repeat this pablum.

I have to say there is much to be admired about a man who is consumed with a desire for power. It is such a rarity nowadays that few recognized it when they saw it. They saw a "lazy" candidate instead of someone who followed the true, classic American tradition of citizen statesman.

Will we ever see it, again? I doubt it. I'm surprised we saw it all. Mike Huckabee claims that he's "like the guy you work with", but most people have never worked with a guy who craves power like he does, willing to do and say anything to acheive the power to tell others how to order their lives. In that vein Huckabee stands in stark contrast with Thompson. Whereas Huckabee can only gain from running for office, Fred made significant sacrifices to run for office.

Though it pains me to ponder this campaign without Fred, I am glad to talk about this because I think it's startling how eager people were/are to ascribe to conventional wisdom as if it was actual wisdom. Even now, many are buying into the McCain hype created for us by the media. They once told us he was going nowhere and now tell us that he can't be beaten. They tell us that everybody supports him, but they ignore that much of the conservative base will not support him, with much vigor anyway. Heaven help us.

If you truly value wisdom, and a little perspective, read Ferguson's column. Here's the link.