As for Jefferson, I consider him a libertarian which, in my mind is the intellectual center of true conservatism.

Also, I am confused. Are we now calling Thomas Jefferson a conservative?

On a more serious and substantive note, I wanted to address Mike’s points earlier up in the discussion and I think he is very much correct, and this point has led to many frustrations as both a liberal and a Democrat.

The fact that liberals tend to be more individually minded often times is a political handicap as liberals tend to misunderstand politics and frequently lack cohesiveness even at opportune moments. The liberal blogosphere during the 2008 general election was simply amazing to me and very uncharacteristic for liberals in general. Outside of that, it’s not overly difficult to find liberals fighting just as much amongst each other as they will with Republicans.

What Mike touches on with Republicans may be better addressed by the League’s conservatives and libertarians, but I have observed much more of a tendancy towards developing a cult of personality, for the time being, that personality is Ronald Reagan.

In fact, as I was covering the presidential primaries, I remarked numerous times just how frequently Republican candidates attempted to establish themselves as the next Ronald Reagan, invoking the late President’s name over and over again, almost as though, if you said it enough, people would believe you were him reincarnated.

The funny thing is, I think these canonized figures of both parties will do more harm than good politically. If you are comparing yourself to Ronald Reagan or JFK, if you are using them as yardsticks, does that not only show your own shortcomings all the more?

On a final note, I do so love making the distinction between the different kinds of conservatism. From my point of view, there are actually only two types: actual conservatism based upon the conservative (dictionary definition) principles or Jeffersonian principles. To me, this kind of conservatism is equal across the board–smaller government in terms of foreign policy, economy, and social issues.

The other kind of conservatism with a broad stroke is much more malleable, and is defined as anything right of center which chooses to self identify as conservative. And now I must leave.