Different Ideas on the Right vs. Leftist Groupthink

Jeff Jacoby @ The Boston Globe via RCP talks about the (sometimes) bitter debate for ideas on the political right, and the dearth of any such on the political left.

"On one important issue after another, the right churns with serious disputes over policy and principle, while the left marches mostly in lockstep. Liberals sometimes disagree over tactics and details, but anyone taking a heterodox position on a major issue can find himself out in the cold. Just ask Senator Joseph Lieberman . In the liberal imagination, conservatives are blind dogmatists, spouters of a party line fed to them by (take your pick) big business, their church, or President Bush. Yet almost anywhere you look on the right these days, what stands out is the lack of ideological conformity."

Jacoby points out the current fight over immigration, the fact pro-abortion Rudy has been welcomed into the presidential race (while any pro-life Dem would be shot down immediately) and the debate on the right about stem cells, and health insurance. I would add there is also a lot of discussion on gun control, tax and trade policy, federal spending, alternative energy, global warming, military preparedness.