Question for the day—what is the most important issue of our time in America, except for national defense? Is it gasoline prices or energy policy, education, stem cell research, immigration policy, Social Security reform, universal health care, or any of the other weekly hot buttons of the polls and focus groups? No, it is none of these. I submit that the most urgent strategic issue of our time is the restoration of the constitutional order and ending the assault on representative democracy. Why? Because without this restoration, none of these other things will matter. This is the disheartening part of the deal forced upon and accepted by the Republican Senate leadership by the “gang of 14” assembled to avoid the showdown over judicial confirmations, ostensibly in the interests of Senate tradition and “comity”. This showdown has been brewing for over forty years, and it is past time to have it. Now, just when we seemed finally to have gathered the courage to consummate it, the party granted the mantle of leadership and the obligation to govern by majorities expanded in three consecutive elections folded. It capitulated to forces that have spent every waking hour over four decades undermining the constitutional rule of law in favor of a postmodern ideology grounded in the concept of the “living constitution”. If Republican control of the Senate doesn’t count for judicial confirmations, it doesn’t count for anything. Many have said that this deal was essentially an agreement reluctantly accepted to buy time to confront the issue on another day. Hope springs eternal, but often overcomes experience.