Jesse Berney: Speak with moderation, but govern for your base. "What it comes down to is this: Republicans win elections in order to govern while Democrats govern in order to win elections." Good stuff.

Michelle Cottle: Bait and Switch. As someone who grew up in South Carolina, I can tell you something about the dangers of politicking the Confederate flag. But Cottle is right: if GA Gov. Sonny Perdue wants to play that game, he should have to play it to the end.

Declan McCullagh asks: Is it time for a GeekPAC? Given the disconnect between what geeks really know and what Congress thinks it knows about technology issues (including encryption, copyright, privacy, and internet speech), the answer would seem to be "yes". And McCullagh's article discusses fairly well the different kinds of organizations that might be effective, depending upon whether the goal is to affect elections or affect policy. But he takes a wrong turn when he says that this kind of political organizing is something the "technology industry" should do. As I noted here a little while ago, the tech industry is actually pretty bad on a number of these issues, and often unwilling to take into account much except what will affect next quarter's numbers. So yes, by all means, there should be a GeekPAC, but there should be a sign on the door that says, "No CEOs allowed."

William Raspberry: Embracing Big Brother. "I can't tell you how often I've heard some version of: If you don't have anything to hide, you shouldn't care that the government is watching your mail, monitoring your phone calls, clawing through your financial records or reading your e-mail. That nonchalance is especially commonplace as America continues to do battle against international terrorism. The response, in effect, is that terrorism is such a threat that it's worth giving up all we hold dear in order to oppose it."