Federal Judge: Crackpots and Lunatics in the GOP Have Made Me Less Conservative

Judge Richard Posner of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago has long been one of the nation's most respected and admired conservative jurists.  But like many others, he finds that the sickness - an almost mental illness that combines religious extremism, greed and a total lack of compassion for others, and a refusal to deal with objective reality - that predominates in today's Republican Party is driving him away from conservatism. As a former Republican and party activist, I fully relate to Posner's disgust with what the GOP has become and how it has truly made the label "conservative" into something ugly.  Frankly, I don't see things getting any better as Mitt Romney continues to prostitute himself to the nastiest elements in the GOP.  NPR has a piece on Judge Posner's retreat from conservatism.  I particularly enjoy his use of the terms "crackpots" and "lunatics."   Here are excerpts:

Judge Richard Posner, a conservative on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, has long been one of the nation's most respected and admired legal thinkers on the right. But in an interview with NPR, he expressed exasperation at the modern Republican Party, and confessed that he has become "less conservative" as a result.

Posner expressed admiration for President Ronald Reagan and the economist Milton Friedman, two pillars of conservatism. But over the past 10 years, Posner said, "there's been a real deterioration in conservative thinking. And that has to lead people to re-examine and modify their thinking."
"I've become less conservative since the Republican Party started becoming goofy," he said.

Posner, who was appointed to the appeals court by Reagan, speculated that the leaks about the deliberations over the national health care law — which are apparently designed to discredit Chief Justice John Roberts' opinion upholding the law — would backfire. "I think these right-wingers who are blasting Roberts are making a very serious mistake," he said.

"Because if you put [yourself] in his position ... what's he supposed to think? That he finds his allies to be a bunch of crackpots? Does that help the conservative movement? I mean, what would you do if you were Roberts? All the sudden you find out that the people you thought were your friends have turned against you, they despise you, they mistreat you, they leak to the press. What do you do? Do you become more conservative? Or do you say, 'What am I doing with this crowd of lunatics?' Right? Maybe you have to re-examine your position."

As NPR notes, in addition to serving as a federal appeals court judge, Posner is the author of several  dozen books on subjects ranging from law and economics to aging and literature.  I don't blame him whatsoever for wanting to distance himself from today's "conservatives."