Yesterday, I speculated on the psychological/religious motivations for Robert Novak to bow low to right-facing power. Today, let’s delve into the implications of that misplaced fealty.

Conservatives are not a monolithic bloc. Conservatism takes on many forms. There are philosophical Conservatives. These folks believe in truly limited government. They feel that the government that governs least governs best. Yes, they’ve got their wingtips firmly planted in the 18th century.

Then there are the fiscal Conservatives. These folks can, at the same time be social moderates (or, OHMYGAWD, Liberals). They aren’t looked upon as “true” Conservatives by any of the other conservative factions. Fiscal Conservatives are often mistaken for Clinton Democrats.

The most fascinating sect is the religious Conservatives. These folks don’t seem to understand why the framers decided that we wouldn’t have a state religion. These folks also don’t seem to appreciate the freedom that we have to worship in whatever way we want in this country. They also seemed to have missed the point that in the industrialised countries of Western Europe (where there is not a defining line between the state and religion) people are far less religious than in the U.S. Why? Could it be that when religion is part of the state, people will feel oppressed by it?

This group also vociferously supports Israel against all detractors. Why? Because they believe that establishment of a Jewish state is a precursor to the Armageddon after which will come the Rapture. The Jews, by the way, won’t be saved in this rapture; only these Christians will get to go up, up, and away. So, much for the Israelis’ good friends. Finally, this group are the foot soldiers of the Republican Party. They are the folks who get out the vote. So, they are able to represent a figure far larger than their actual numbers.

Then there is a group of Conservatives who actually endorse the conception of a large government. This large government, though, is not meant to be a force for domestic social good or progress. These folks are the fulcrum of what we know as the Military Industrial Complex. They are also an essential part of our own domestic axis of evil: the Iron Triangle of legislators, federal bureaucracts and special interest groups.

These Conservatives are the also known as Neo-Liberals: they believe in an economic liberalism which promotes a free market economy and global trade. You saw them before the war in Iraq. They were all over the chat shows: Richard Perl, Paul (they’ll greet us with flowers) Wolfowitz, Ken (it’ll be a cakewalk) Adelman, Dick (Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction) Cheney, Condi (we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud) Rice, and so on.

Now, these neo-Liberals have for many years convinced the philosophical and religious Conservatives that they are all working toward the same goal. However, as the size of government has grown over the past 4 ½ years, and as promises about social programs weren’t kept the philosophical, fiscal and religious Conservatives have become suspicious of the motives of the neo-Liberals. But, that’s a story for another day.

It’s the neo-Liberals who have paid Bob Novak’s and Judith Miller’s fiddler, and these two dance to the neo-Liberal’s tune. Novak and Judith Miller abandoned any attempt at journalistic objectivity to be able to feel the warmth, the rush of power. Novak and Miller were rubbing elbows with the most powerful folks in the U.S. They were getting all the scoops being spoon-fed to them. They were being led down that slippery slope. The crucible of power can burn and Judith Miller is feeling that now. I suspect that Novak won’t feel it until he goes to his special place in hell. Oh, to be a fly on that wall.

I wouldn’t waste much time feeling pity for these two. They got what they wanted for a long time and they haven’t begun to get what they deserve. We can only hope that other journalists who want to play with fire will see this as an object lesson. Then, and only then, can journalists start to earn back the trust that they had lost while playing lap-dogs to power.

Almost 60 years ago, there was an English film called “The Red Shoes.” It was a story about a ballerina who coveted a beautiful pair of red toe shoes. When she finally was able to wear them, though, she couldn’t stop dancing. She had to dance until she was dead. So, in the meantime; dance, ballerina, dance.