To listen to Michael Medved or Steve Sailer discuss a film is to hear a bulldozer being applied to the study of orchids. Conservative cultural critics always harp on exactly the same things, always knowing what they want to see before they write about it. Becoming a good cultural critic seems to require a liberal open-mindedness. Yet the converse doesn't hold: being liberal doesn't mean you're automatically good at talking about the ramifications of culture. Lately conservatives have thrown us liberals the bait of culture, drawing us into "culture wars" that aren't worth fighting to win. We liberals can overestimate the links between culture and politics. Just because someone has the bad taste to enjoy Larry the Cable Guy doesn't mean we can write that person off.