As Camille Paglia's success has demonstrated, what is most marketable is absolutism and attitude undiluted by thought.

Under the rubric of religious freedom, we respect the right to worship differently much more than the right to worship not at all.

What might once have been called whining is now exalted as a process of asserting selfhood; self-absorption is regarded as a form of self-expression.

Like heterosexuality, faith in immaterial realities is popularly considered essential to individual morality.

We don't cut off the hands of thieves or castrate rapists. Why must we murder murderers?

Give the FBI unchecked domestic spying powers and instead of focusing on preventing terrorism, it will revert to doing what it does best - monitoring, harassing, and intimidating political dissidents and thousands of harmless immigrants.

I don't think of myself as having a particular role. I'm lucky enough to be able to make my living essentially by expressing my opinions. But, you know, I think the world would manage quite well if I weren't doing it.