Gary Hart in yesterday's NYT
I was tempted to interrupt Media Monday to post some of this, but I really do need to force one politics-free day onto myself a week before I lose my mind. Anyway, a day late, is probably the best essay I've read post-election. It's a shame I first heard of him when he dropped out of the Presidential race way back when. If his brain works half as well as it reads, then I really like the guy. Here's a taste, but read the whole thing, if you haven't already.

As a candidate for public office, I chose not to place my [religious] beliefs in the center of my appeal for support because I am also a Jeffersonian; that is to say, I believe that one's religious beliefs - though they will and should affect one's outlook on public policy and life - are personal and that America is a secular, not a theocratic, republic. Because of this, it should concern us that declarations of "faith" are quickly becoming a condition for seeking public office.
[SNIP]
There is also the disturbing tendency to insert theocratic principles into the vision of America's role in the world. There is evil in the world. Nowhere in our Constitution or founding documents is there support for the proposition that the United States was given a special dispensation to eliminate it. Surely Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator. But there are quite a few of those still around and no one is advocating eliminating them. Neither Washington, Adams, Madison nor Jefferson saw America as the world's avenging angel. Any notion of going abroad seeking demons to destroy concerned them above all else.

He would have made a good President. At least, he'd make a good one now.