Persecuting The Heretics

Kathleen Parker is getting hate mail for telling the truth about Palin:

The picture is this: Anyone who dares express an opinion that runs counter to the party line will be silenced. That doesn't sound American to me, but Stalin would approve. Readers have every right to reject my opinion. But when we decide that a person is a traitor and should die for having an opinion different than one's own, then we cross into territory that puts all freedoms at risk.

Dreher is also getting blowback. They should read my in-tray. There is something very sick about a political movement that cannot tolerate the mildest of criticisms from within. American conservatism has stopped being a discourse or a tradition or a party. It has become a religion of sorts, and dissent - even on pragmatic grounds - is regarded as heresy. That's how movements go astray. They cannot criticize themselves or acknowledge failures.