Emanations and penumbras

Useful political discourse usually involves hard work. "Live free or die" is pretty simple and probably was not the product of an all night skull session, but such easy nuggets are few and far between.

However much of what is wrong, cockeyed, and out of whack, with political thought in this country, is HARD to explain in short, easy to understand ways.

The boys over at Powerline have done the hard work and produced a brilliant essay on Hugh Hefner's influence on American thought. "Hugh Hefner" in this case serves mainly as a metaphor for the broader problems present in today's America.

They very carefully draw the picture dot by dot, and show that much of what passes as serious thought in this country is devoid of...well...seriousness.