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Keeping the FaithConsidering the religion of our next president.

Compiled by Adam ChristianPosted Saturday, Dec. 23, 2006, at 10:47 AM ET

(Continued from page 5)

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On the Internet, the topic of money tends to bring out some unusual points of view. But revrick makes a compelling argument that monetary policy will gain salience in the years ahead:

The Republicans have become the party of tax cuts and deficits don't matter and as a result are heedless of the grave damage they will inflict on future generations. The Democrats, on the other hand, are preaching, however timidly, the understanding that we just cannot continue to pile debt upon debt and dump it all on our grandchildren's shoulders.

The Democrats are saying that we have a moral responsibility to our children and children's children to act with some measure of fiscal temperance. To cite Aesop's fable, the Democrats are looking more and more like the ants and the Republicans have become grasshoppers, peddling wild-eyed, radical whack-a-doodle economic theories.

In some respects, the Democrats are returning to their Jacksonian roots pushing a hard money policy, based on the understanding that when the crash comes, it's always those at the bottom who suffer the worst.

Mycenea projects "a restoration of the Romney Republicans: strong economy, strong defense, fiscal conservatism, and the devil take the rest. It will be a long time before anyone utters the words 'family values.'" San lays out the case for the opposite future:

To be conservative means not to want to change. The old ways are good, and the new ways are only new, not better. To pursue many new paths is to waste money on things you cannot be certain about. […]

Conservatives don't believe in government without a say. Government is the legal enforcement of social customs. Marriage bonds families to stop bastardization to promote society, and the law helps keep marriages together and infedelity down.

The fact that so many states put forth anti-gay marriage amendments proves that Conservatism isn't dead. It means that people don't want to change society, and that society has customs and rules to help promote a better America, not a worse. […]

Catorce predicts we're entering the age of the "Global Realist":

Ariel Sharon might be the best example of this. Israel finally realized that it simply did not have a peace partner amongst the Palestinians and couldn't govern them. So it withdrew from Gaza and set in motion withdrawals from the West Bank. Very non-ideological. And it built a very effective wall. Very realist -- attacks have plummeted. Wonder why Bush thinks a wall is a good idea on immigration?

In a well-written response to Fred Kaplan's search for statecraft, MikeX sees the next two years through a lens, darkly:

Bush still has two years in office to implement a half-assed immigration policy, turn the world's only agricultural superpower into a wasteland of ethanol crops and stand idly by while an earthquake levels Los Angeles, all without setting foot outside Crawford.

Democratic partisans seem to be more interested in their party's immediate future, weighing in on John Dickerson's analysis of the Dean-Carville dispute. If the Fray's an indicator, Dean is definitely getting credit among the rank and file for the Democratic pickup. randall observes that Democratic gains were far wider than the congressional elections indicate:

The good news even extended to the county level in many states. This success had nothing to do with Schumer or Emanuel and everything to do with Dean. It is important to remember that these county and state officials will have significant roles to play in presidential politics at the state level and, if the DNC is smart enough to keep following Dean, they can keep control through the critical redistricting efforts. There is enough good news for Democrats to spread around the glory for a while.