MAKE A WISH

It was not long ago that conservatives prided themselves on being hard-headed realists, in sharp contrast to the liberals' idealism. Somebody like Richard Nixon may have reduced Realpolitik to rank cynicism, but nobody doubted his tough-mindedness. Back then reality, not tea, was the right's bag.

Forget that. These days conservatism is par excellence the province of wishful thinking.

Take the Religious Right. There is no longer any basis for denying that evolution brought us into being. The science is there. But they will not admit it. And you can see why not. Because if every word in the Bible is not the literal truth, they are denuded of the phony authority they have dealt themselves. In that event, where do they get off persecuting groups they dislike and legislating their primitive theology over all of us?

They want to believe that evolution is a lie or a mistake. Therefore it is. Simple, no?

And then there are the teabaggers. They see well enough that if global warming is a fact - as all of the science and the melting of the polar ice caps attest - then we are going to have to change the way we live. They don't want to change. They won't have the illegitimate, unConstitutional gummint telling them what to do. Therefore global warming is a commie plot.

They're inviting catastrophe, but who cares? It isn't here yet, so there's still time to pretend.

Then there are the birthers. They dramatize their idea that Obama doesn't belong in the White House with the groundless notion that he was born in another country and so isn't really president. They are determined to believe it; therefore it must be so.

And there are the truthers, though only some of them are righties. They think we have been lied to about what happened on 9/11. They like to blame conspiracies for everything; therefore the truth has to be concealed, except to them.

Actuality is the enemy. But fear not, it can be overcome through sheer willpower.

Also on the scene now are the tenthers, fans of Jeff Davis and the dissolution of Abe Lincoln's tyrannical socialist Union, who say the outlawing of racial segregation was outrageous Supreme Court interference with states' rights. Expect to hear more about nullification and secession: issues we thought were long dead. Again, cold sanity doesn't stand a chance.

By the way, when segregationists were yammering about states' rights years ago, Michigan Governor George Romney, the far more admirable dad of a current presidential aspirant, answered them in words I've always liked: "States don't have rights. People have rights."

Those significantly right of center in our time can be expected to believe in make-believe. What ought to be true, according to them, can be dressed up as truth without penalty.

So welcome to Rightiesville, where hearts are hard, heads are soft, and fairy tales get the drop on facts every single time.