Leave it to Steven Malcolm Anderson to bring to the surface some latent feelings still lingering within my cold and too-lifeless soul.

In a comment to my last post about Harriet Miers, Steven concluded that he was "at a loss" to parse the philosophies of the current Supreme Court justices:

...now I'm at a loss as to who is more on the side of the individual and who is more on the side of government. What we seem to have now are, on the one side, "broad constructionists" or "living Constitutionalists" who read both individual rights (at least in the sexual realm) and government powers (especially in the realm of economics) as broadly as possible, vs., on the other side, the "strict constructionists" or "originalists", who read both individual rights (especially in the sexual realm) and government powers (especially in the realm of economics) as narrowly as possible.

Hmmm....

"Hmmm...." is a sentiment with which I can always agree. I knew a prominent psychiatrist who'd bill his patients hundreds of dollars an hour, and that was often the only observation he ever made....

"Hmmm...."

Well, occasionally he'd follow that with a knowing (if gently condescending) look, and he'd add, "Tell me more."

As I told Steven, he touched on something which really bothers me, but which I have learned not to waste my time complaining about.

And because I know that a lot of people don't bother with comments when they visit blogs (I don't blame them!), I'll complain about it again, in this post and not in a comment.

As a libertarian, I have strong opinions about a lot of issues like a minimal role for government, hands off economic and social issues, etc. I have become quite accustomed to feeling frustrated that no libertarian -- say, Kozinksi, Reynolds, Volokh, or Barnett -- can or will ever be appointed to the Supreme Court. I've learned to settle -- for pragmatism, for less than perfection. I don't yell and scream because my wishes are not being fulfilled, and this is why I find it so hard to listen to the moral outrage of people who scream like mortally wounded animals because their idea of litmus test perfection hasn't been met.

I grit my teeth and listen to these people, and I always wonder what makes their opinions so infinitely more worthy of consideration than mine.

Is it because I don't yell loudly enough? If so, it's hardly consoling.

Because, if I yelled and still didn't get my way, I'd only feel worse!