David Broder completely disagrees with Justice Brandeis. For Broder, the citizens should just shut up and follow the independent wise men:

And looking beyond 2008, think about a future contest involving Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina -- or any of many other pairs of younger talents, with similarly inclusive and expansive views of the national interest. What a boon for the country.

But is this rosy scenario likely? Look at the powerful forces working against it. Congress is rigged to promote partisanship and extremism. . . . The flow of special-interest money into congressional races adds to this tilt, and now the bloggers are pummeling anyone who deviates from their definition of ideological purity.

An engaged citizenry is a horrible thing according to David Broder. So much so, he wrote two columns in a row about it:

Now, however, you can see the independence party forming -- on both sides of the aisle. They are mobilizing to resist not only Bush but also the extremist elements in American society -- the vituperative, foul-mouthed bloggers on the left and the doctrinaire religious extremists on the right who would convert their faith into a whipping post for their opponents.

These folks, all of them, are an engaged citizenry. They reject, as does the entire country, the lectured wisdom from on high from the Dean of the Beltway and the Chosen -- the gutless McCain, Graham, Lieberman and the like. It is not surprising that Broder disagrees with Loius Brandeis - Brandeis was a brilliant man who had lived the life of the nonconforming activist attorney - forming part of an engaged citizenry - for most of his life before taking his seat on the bench. Broder has been a Beltway Elite fixture for most of the past 30 years. He would never understand what Louis Brandeis is talking about.