Julian Malcolm is a good friend (and a former student of my RCIA classes) who has started a new blog called TheOldHomePlace. He gets it off to a great start by criticizing the cafeteria-style tendency of American Catholics on both the conservative and progressive stripes to pick and choose what we decide makes us Catholic.
We need another perspective, we need to become Roman in our thinking. Just goes to point out the glory and the beauty of the truly Catholic Church. Do participants in the American experiment have valuable insights? Absolutely! However, if the leadership in Rome cautions us about capitol punishment, going to war or unbridled capatilism, we ought to listen. Especially with a man like Benedict XVI at the helm.
An excellent (and pertinent) point, not to mention his quotation of Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae, one of my favorite encyclicals.
Read it all.