> Many of my friends in Washington are evangelical Christians who found their vocation in public service—fighting sex trafficking, serving the world’s poor, protecting America from foreign threats, doing biomedical research to cure disease. They are trying to live lives consistent with the gospel of mercy and love.

The incineration of American Christianity for power has been noticeable for some time. I see blasphemy from people living very comfortable lives, like the people around David Brooks, and 90% of Christ’s message to them is repent. They are their own obstacles to actual Christianity.

"I became a conservative in the 80s and am shocked -- SHOCKED! -- at the way things turned out."

Wow, David. It only took you 30 years to catch up to what everybody else already knew.

Yes, you should have seen this coming. It was really, really, really obvious.

And you contributed. You told readers of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal that your moderate conservatism was what your party was trying to accomplish, when it patently was not. Because of you, they're as surprised as you are -- and they voted to put this into place.

Now you're going to follow other "moderate" commentators who jumped ship and discover that nobody wants to listen to them. You'll go to liberal outlets and tell the liberals how sorry you are, but giving them absolutely nothing they can use to change anything. You're not even going to try to express it to conservative outlets, and if you do, you're going to have the door slammed in your face so hard it will break your nose.