Visiting the grandchildren for the weekend.

When we took them all out for daughter's birthday son-in-law reminded me of the essence of modern conservatism.

Un-provoked and out of the blue he launched into a declamation on how, unlike those crazy rich Democrats, he didn't want to pay taxes, at all.

And if they really felt that way about it they could just write the IRS a check and leave him out of it.

He works for a defense contractor, so you can guess his attitude toward military spending and the "war on terror."

He's one of those very frank "Let them die" guys and won't hear of global warming.

His party makes endless noise about patriotism, but all it seems to mean is enthusiasm for war and "the American Way," defined as prioritizing the altogether fictitious rights of property over everything else.

This is what they are really talking about when they say liberty is their supreme political value, if not the only value.

By "liberty" they mean only economic liberty, and that they understand as only markets unfeterred by regard for any competing values.

You and I might think love of country would prioritize democracy and the common good, subordinating all things economic - including the definition of property rights - to that.

You might think lovers of their country would loathe war and cherish peace, and would sacrifice unnecessary military expenses for schools, hospitals, and the real welfare of their countrymen.

And you would be right.

And you would be a socialist.