Many of today’s Republican politicians seem to be under the influence of a type of religious delirium in which policy is determined with reference to various conservative shibboleths that are taken on faith by the entranced true believers. In conservadom, a rarified idea of the free market is revered as the hand of God, a spurious and fantastical hermaneutics of the 2nd and 10th amendments provides all the guidance the faithful require, and the good old days when women were either Madonas or whores and the sluts, minorities and homosexuals knew their places in a white, country-club America can surely come again if folks just hold off the socialist horde.

While there are exceptions and cynical pols who are just playing the mob, this vision seems to have taken a deep hold on many Missouri politicians who seem to want to move the state into the block of dirt-poor red states

Unfortunately, faith can let folks down. Fighting the good fight against Obamacare while refusing to take federal dollars to expand Medicaid? Bad consequences for real people. Today’s