Even the cleverest amongst us can be pandered to, and this column by Michael Barone smacks right into the ideological blindspots of both Eugene Volokh and Glenn Reynolds. Matt is right not to buy it, because there is nothing to Barone’s distinction between Hard and Soft America but vague stereotypes. “A sensible society wants to keep some part of itself Soft” says Barone. On the strength of the evidence, it looks like America has chosen its brain.