Two Facts

1. David Brooks is still being employed by the New York Times to write a garbage column.

2. In this week's offering, which is about what's wrong with the GOP, Brooks manages to write this:

Since Barry Goldwater, the central Republican narrative has been what you might call the Encroachment Story: the core problem of American life is that voracious government has been steadily encroaching upon individuals and local communities. The core American conflict, in this view, is between Big Government and Personal Freedom.

While losing the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections, the flaws of this mentality have become apparent.

—and then fails to address even obliquely that the "apparent flaw" is actually the profound hypocrisy of the Republican Party, who continue to narratively position themselves as the defenders of Small Government and Personal Freedom while recklessly spending enormous amounts of taxpayer money on bullshit and trying to use the power of government to compel forcible childbirth, deny basic equality, and crush workers' right to organize.

The GOP isn't even honest about who they are when they're navel-gazing. Americans expect politicians to lie to us, but we expect them at least not to lie to themselves.