One side-effect of the so-called war on terror has been a crisis of liberalism. This is not only a question of alarmingly illiberal legislation but a more general problem of how the liberal state deals with its anti-liberal enemies.

Liberalism is a religion. Its tenets cannot be proved its capacity for waste and destruction demonstrated. But it affords a feeling of spiritual rectitude at little or no cost.

But like a born actor who only really wants to direct Gingrich has always been unsatisfied with what he's brilliant at. He can't still his hunger to deliver grand pronouncements on life liberalism conservatism religion and whatever else swims into his consciousness.

Liberalism is Rationalism in politics.

Liberalism is I think resurgent. One reason is that more and more people are so painfully aware of the alternative.

The belief that recipients of government aid are better off the more we spend on them is remarkably persistent. No matter how many times this central tenet of liberalism gets debunked like Brett Favre it just keeps coming back.

What does it say about a president's policies when he has to use a cartoon character rather than real people to justify his record? What does it say about the fiction of old liberalism to insist that good jobs and good schools and good wages will result from policies that have failed us time and again?

If you scratch below the surface and ask what really makes me tick it's the liberalism of trying to promote freedom and opportunity. Promoting social mobility is one of the keys to that.

Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.

There will be trying times during Obama's presidency and liberty will need staunch defenders. Can Obama reshape liberalism to be as it was under F.D.R. a fighting faith unapologetically patriotic and strong in the defense of liberty? That would be a service to our country.