Intellectual Exodus - Why We're Running From Rush

Andrew muses about Nate Silvers' musing on the disappearance of smart people from the Republican Party.

It's never been that easy being an intellectual on the right. I spent most of my college and grad school years in mortal combat. But the degeneracy of the Republican party today makes every thinking person I know wince. It doesn't debunk conservative ideas about the failures of government solutions, the wisdom of markets, the necessity for sound money and balanced budgets, or the need for prudence in foreign policy. But the association with these debt-ridden, torture-loving, big government authoritarians is awful.

I humbly submit that conservative intellectuals formerly associated with the Republican party, like myself, have not moved to the Democrat side. We have just found new roosts.

Now, I can't speak for everyone, but many other conservatives, like my brother-in-law, have found sanctity for their conservative ideals under the wings of Ron Paul. Others I know have renamed themselves "libertarians" and learned that economic conservativism is important enough that they'll bend on gay marriage.

Most of the conservative intellectuals I know that have left the Republican party (which is most of the conservative intellectuals I know) are not calling themselves Democrats. Somehow leaving the Republican party...but not going to the Democrats...makes it seem less like betrayal and more like...an upgrade?


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