Mr. Nelson, This has been an interesting exchange. I can see that you are operating on an intellectual plane some distance above my own. I believe I saw an interview of Douthat on C-SPAN or somewhere but am not familiar with his book. I wasn’t overly impressed if it was the same person. I love the quote from Jung. I feel deprived by my miseducation and limited experience and exposure to certain literature and philosophy. I am even more limited by time and by my singular mission regarding counterproductive compulsory attendance laws. You have spoken about “the right”, “conservatives”, and Republicans as Thom’s enemies. There may be some confusion with all that, and I may not be able to clear it up. Suffice it to say that it is a fact that conservatism has been hijacked, perverted, and profoundly damaged by fanatics, extremists, and reactionaries. Legitimate conservatives such as Buckley and Andrew Sullivan have been plowed under and overshadowed. The people being misidentified as conservative on the right now are fringe nuts and authoritarian wanna-be fascists. Christianity has been taken over in many quarters by Christo-fascists and Christian Dominionists, such as five or six US Supreme Court justices, DeVos, her brother Erik Prince, General Flynn, and a host of others. While I do not believe that Thom typically refers to any of these people as enemies, they most definitely have great enmity toward democratic ideals, our Constitution as written, science, and truth as represented in the real world as opposed to their fabricated fantasy world that has never existed. Thom has entertained many right-wing spokespersons on his show many times. You apparently missed them or have not interpreted what occurred in the same way I interpreted it. I saw him obliterate their pretentious and specious arguments every time with solid facts, history, and logic. Our lens may be filtering reality in a different way. It may be more of a prism than a lens. There may be nothing that can be done to alter that situation for some of us. The harsh reality is that the Republican brand since Ronnie Raygun has almost exclusively represented no clear policies that are aimed at making the world a better place, and by many that harm working people, the middle class, poor people, and that tear at the social fabric. They are directly for things which tend to kill people, such as the proliferation of guns, forcing women into back-alley abortions or living in poverty with children they cannot care for, deadly pollution, aggressive foreign incursions, and wars, etc., etc. The leadership on the right are now mostly people such as Gingrich, McConnell, DeSantis, Abbott, etc., who clearly lack a moral compass or a conscience and whose every act and word is about gaining or keeping power and suppressing anyone who hesitates to do their bidding or who is in any way unconventional or different. The people who vote for these phony and mendacious authoritarians have demonstrated a sheep-like inability to think independently. Far too many people calling themselves conservative are merely accepting the ludicrous excuses and talking points that the party bosses and right-wing media hammer into their brains 24/7. Earlier today, I came across the expression, “…the hermetically sealed bubble of conservative media outlets” in Obama’s latest book, “Promised Land”. No need to think. Just keep tuning in and clicking on those links. To repeat, what is being represented by those outlets and those self-serving, craven, and extremist leaders is something other than conservative and is certainly not honest or in alignment with the Constitution and democratic principles. If you can listen with an open mind, you cannot help but recognize the danger in following people who exploit and manipulate with no concern or compassion and who have appointed themselves as the superior ones who should lord over others on their way to glory in heaven. One does not compromise with evil.