Clarence Thomas’ luxury trips

I’ve seen news reports that Clarence Thomas has a billionaire friend who has been taking him on luxury trips. The implication is that this compromises Thomas’ ability to be an impartial judge.

It might. I don’t know. I won’t prejudge that issue.

But I will make a prediction. I’ll bet that this is quite common — that many of the justices do the same thing, but the media is harping on Thomas because they don’t like him.

I’m not in any way trying to excuse or belittle corruption. I believe we need new anti-corruption measures to investigate everyone with political power.

At the same time, there’s a recognizable pattern to these sorts of stories. It will eventually come out that justices on both sides do this.

“Conservative” is the wrong word

Conserving for the sake of conserving is a bad idea.

I was just reading a thread complaining that social issues tend to go like this. Liberals propose Crazy Idea #1. Conservatives oppose it. Liberals propose Crazy Idea #2, which goes even further. Conservatives say, “can’t we just do Crazy Idea #1?”

That does tend to happen too often, but conservatives also have forward-looking ideas. (Think of Newt Gingrich.) They just frame those ideas in the context of the tried and true.

Which raises the question, what is a better term for people who are called conservative?

Too many “conservative” labels and terms are backwards looking. “Originalist.” “Constitutionalist.” “Founding Fathers.”

Conservatism needs a re-branding and a new vision that respects the past, but looks forward.

I’m not saying conservatives don’t do those things, but that the brand doesn’t promote that perspective. Also, a more forward-looking feel might attract more young people.