Who's Your Favorite Public Intellectual?

We've all got 'em: A favorite author who's influenced the way we see the world. Some scholar or activist whose thinking's opened up new vistas in our own lives.

I go back and forth on this, of course.

In the past few years I've enjoyed Robert Kagan ("Power and Weakness") and Juan Williams (Enough).

I think some of Jamie Kerchick's recent writings are really cool ("The Anti-Neocon Fervor"), but I don't think he's really established enough to rate up there among today's top public intellectuals.

I'm thinking about this because Foreign Policy's put out the call for readers to vote for "The Top 100 Public Intellectuals":

They are some of the world’s most introspective philosophers and rabble-rousing clerics. A few write searing works of fiction and uncover the mysteries of the human mind. Others are at the forefront of modern finance, politics, and human rights. In the second Foreign Policy/Prospect list of top public intellectuals, we reveal the thinkers who are shaping the tenor of our time.

Foreign Policy's already got its list of the top 100. Kagan's on there, as well as David Petreaus, who's also a hero of mine. Samuel Huntington's a great inclusion too!

I don't see Williams or Kirchick, although lefties will love the inclusion of Paul Krugman, and true radicals will rejoice at the listing of Noam Chomsky!

So, don't delay: Submit your vote today!