Democrats to this day titter at the supposed trailer-trash aura of Sarah Palin. Well, Sarah Palin, swilling a two-liter Mountain Dew, hawking NRA tote bags out of an El Camino at a Wasilla strip mall is still the dowager of Downton Abbey compared to Hillary Clinton and her low-rent aspirations.

So, where did the defenders of true marriage go wrong? First, by not asking with a contemptuous groan, when did the left start caring about marriage? They have, through enacting lax divorce laws, establishing an entitlement subculture that renders fathers obsolete, and social mores that embrace the Playboy Philosophy and radical feminism, decimated marriage — the very institution they are now selling with warm homilies as a right for everyone.

The American Right has yet to fully make the moral case for capitalism. Too many conservative writers and politicians focus on its practical aspects, but details of order and efficiency do not sway the hearts of voters, compassion does. Not surprisingly, the party most hostile to our founding economic principles has won the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections, in large part, by claiming the moral high ground for wealth redistribution and more centralized power.

If Americans take to the streets, as they arguably should, they should be demanding not a higher minimum wage but leadership with clarity, optimism and regard for individual initiative that inspired prosperity in generations past.

In a nutshell, if you’re a liberal, why all the centrist posing? Embrace your progressive ideology. Shout it from the rooftops. Moderates and opportunists of either party are insidious threats to liberty, as they are too hard to predict.

Ted Cruz bears the label of an out-of-touch extremist because few if any on his side will rally to his defense. Ted Cruz is a victim of the high school social network mentality, where the cool clique decides who it’s ok to laugh at and make fun of. The senator, of course, wears a giant kick-me sign on his back, and the Kathleen Parkers go along, deathly afraid of not fitting in, uninterested if the dork in the hallway might possess a redeeming quality.

Productive discourse requires reason, authenticity and passion, and, in showing passion, one does not walk on eggshells worrying about how the self-appointed etiquette experts will perceive him. The voters can discern the heat of the moment from the cold, hard facts. The next great Republican leader will offer choice, contrast, charisma and principle, and if the water carriers for the D.C. status quo label him an “extremist,” hopefully he (or she) will wear that charge as the proverbial badge of honor.

Sarah Palin’s days as governor were marked by her “pragmatic, postpartisan approach to solving problems” How, in one short year, did she morph into the hideously inept caricature created by the smart people in media and entertainment? Obviously, this isn’t about policy or performance. This is personal. The Republican Party could use her backbone, spirit and buoyant sense of self identity.

Our public servants crunch numbers and flush founding principles and the values of their law-abiding, traditional-minded constituents down the toilet. With not nearly enough jobs to go around and state and local budgets buckling under massive debt (and let’s not forget ever-increasing health care costs), self-serving politicians are placing party before country, with Democrats, at least, sharp enough not to destroy themselves by empowering the other side.

Those who cherish Constitutional self-government and capitalism must not only hold onto those ideals, they must unite and forge onward to create a true national renaissance. The future may well depend on it, because the statists are banking their continued dominance on your never-ending burnout.