In this time of premature Republican renewal, the call has gone out for ideological purity among the party's candidates in the upcoming mid-term elections.

Ten points of allegedly "conservative" dogma have been proffered to potential Republican office seekers, and a number of folks high up in the party hierarchy believe that a candidate must "sign off" on at least eight of those points to receive official party support.

This is madness. And I'm not the only one who thinks this. Party chairman Michael Steele (who, despite his position, is hardly a GOP insider) has repeatedly criticized the idea. I'm not going to argue the merits of the policy points; I don't happen to agree with the specifics of any of them. That's beside the point. Demanding "purity" in your membership is always a one-way trip to the scrap heap.

A short bit of history, if you'll allow it. Back in 2005, the North Carolina legislature passed a bill allowing for a state lottery. The backroom (and, literally, bathroom) dealings were greased with shitloads of money. The speaker of the house and many other prominent Democrats went to jail. What happened in the next election? The Democrats increased their legislative majorities by significant margins.

How did this happen? The North Carolina GOP targeted moderate Republicans in the primaries. The Democrats won every single district where a conservative knocked off a moderate Republican in the primary. As for long-term effects, Elizabeth Dole lost her seat and Barack Obama won the state in 2008. This year, Richard Burr is widely considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans senators up for re-election. "Pure" Republicanism hasn't been an easy sell in the Tar Heel state.

I'm not the smartest or wisest guy around. But one thing I've figured out is that no one is ever wrong all the time, and no one is ever right all the time.

Take trickle-down economics. The notion behind this theory is the famous Laffer Curve, a bit of economic sophistry that illustrates the notion that the greater the tax burden, the less rich people are inclined to try and make more money. So if you reduce taxes on the rich, the rich will supposedly try to make more money and, somewhat magically, that money will "trickle down" to the masses.

It's a crazy idea, but it actually worked--if you take taxes out of the equation. From 1994 to 2000 (give or take a few months on either side), venture capitalists threw trillions of dollars into the economy while chasing the Internet. All that money (from rich people) did indeed trickle down. Philosophy majors were getting high-paid gigs with start-ups, even if they didn't even know how to type. I worked for a startup, and in 1999 things were so overheated that people were hired even before positions had been created. These new hires sat around, drank free sodas (and free beer on some Fridays) and watched a lot of movies. All while being paid a decent salary.

And hey, the national budget deficit disappeared as well. The mild tax increases of the early 1990s did get the numbers moving in the right direction, but the massive increase in venture spending (and the corresponding increase in the amount of taxes collected) did most of the heavy lifting.

So, yeah, trickle down economics isn't entirely "voodoo." But for it to work, a lot of rich people have to go batshit crazy and start throwing money out of helicopters--or the semi-rational business equivalent.

Most people are reasonable. But most people don't really think about why they believe what they believe. And very few people want to believe that other folks might have just as much claim to the "truth" as they do.

And so we get purity pledges and other dumb political stunts. I'm glad the Prez got together with Republicans on Friday and had a relatively civil discussion. I'm sure a few people in the GOP feel the same way. After all, saying "no" doesn't work in the long run. In order for a party to grow, it needs to have new ideas drop in from time to time. Like I said earlier, if you stick to the same dogma and don't allow any original thought, your group (be it a political party, civic organization or neighborhood poker game) will wither and die.

And I don't want the GOP to die. Better the devil you know than the one that rises up from the one that committed suicide.

Jon Worley does not want to have to deal with the Vampire Party any time soon.