Free advice for liberals (and the rest of us)

Jonah Goldberg has a very good syndicated column on what's wrong with the left: they don't argue with each other.

If liberals really want to emulate conservative successes, I have some advice for them: Get into some big, honking arguments — not with conservatives, but with each other. The history of the conservative movement's successes has been the history of intellectual donnybrooks, between libertarians and traditionalists, hawks and isolationists, so-called neocons and so-called paleocons, less-filling versus tastes great. Liberals would be smart to copy that and stop worrying how to mimic our direct mail strategies.

This is why I think organizations like the John Adams Society are not only fun, but important. This is also why it's important for the Society to take arguments (and votes) seriously. The best speeches at the Society's debate caucuses are not only funny and entertaining but also genuine attempts to persuade. If we give up the fun, well, it's no longer fun. But if we give up the seriousness, we become something like the Society For Creative Anachronism. That is, geeks.

So here's to a good argument over rock and roll and why everyone who disagrees with me is an idiot, or at least sadly mistaken. (If you've never attended but read the blog, you're welcome to attend. The information is below.)