The End of the Left's History

American Enterprise Institute ^ | By Michael A. Ledeen

[srm913]

Leftism, Communism, Socialism:
R.I.P.

Can I help dig the graves?

[afraidfortherepublic]

We can only hope and pray!

[Joe Bonforte]

Well, the dinosaur may be in its death throes, but it can still do a lot of damage thrashing around.

[glock rocks]

I wouldn't be too quick to celebrate.

The ole carpet bag is reinventing herself, as we speak, as a evangelical conservative. Riding her broom on the wave of a compliant media, she could very posssibly be in power in about 4 years.

If you liked the first installment of the grifters from Little Rock, you'll love the second.

[nothingnew]

Great post. Thanks. Happy New Year!

FMCDH(BITS)

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[7.62 x 51mm]

The Fourth Estate™ = The Fifth Column™ = The Enemy Within™.

[John Thornton]

"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." Benjamin Franklin

[purpleland]

Supported by the arrogant media, America's highly privileged class is composed of:

1. Entertainment Celebrities
2. Academic Thought Controllers
3. Congress' Career Aristo-Politicians

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Great Post and a good read. Thanks.

Happy New Year

FRegards,
Z

[John Lenin]

It's not dead yet, it is alive and well in the EU.

FP: Fair enough. But Mr. Hanson, I disagree with you when you say that the Left does not prefer monsters. Chomsky and Moore are not dying to move to Haiti or Syria. . .well yes, the Left has always been hypocritical on this level. But this is not just about silliness or some kind of dishonesty on their part. Throughout the 20th century leftist Western intellectuals worshipped Stalin, Mao and other mass killers. They went in droves to visit the communist concentration camps and they praised these societies while the killing fields were in their highest gear.

It is not just a coincidence that leftists venerate every despot that opposes the United States. The Left’s embrace of militant Islam today is just a logical continuation of Western intellectuals who travelled to Soviet Russia in the 1930s and worshipped Stalin -- and of Jane Fonda praising the North Vietnamese despots.

What I am getting at here is that there is a malicious and sinister objective within the heart of the Left. It craves totalitarianism, because totalitarianism will suffocate freedom and, ultimately, human life itself – which the Left hates the most. That every communist revolution ate its own children reveals a pernicious death wish in the heart of the Left, and I think it is very much in prominence once again in the War on Terror, in which the left is now in love with those despots who, once again, offer them the dream of extinguishing their own civil society and the freedom within it.

You find this interpretation too extreme?

Spain's Surrender

[Major Matt Mason]

Michael Ledeen is one of my favorite political writers, but I have to somewhat disagree with his view of things here. The Left are the Energizer Bunnies of ideology- they may be losing power, but they keep on going, and going, and going...

Conditions may not now be right for the Left in this country to come back to power, but they will never stop trying, and may even succeeed if the current WA state governor's race is any indication. The Clintonistas are still out there touting their Third Way approach, which is nothing more than refried socialism. They are basically repackaging their hard Left ideology to make it more palatable for the realities of the 21st Century. I have no doubt that somewhere along the way they'll have some success in converting a large bloc of Americans to fall for this nonsense, so it is premature to think that the Left is dead.

Bottom line, we must do what we can NOW to reverse the effects of the control the Leftists had in the last century, while also remaining vigilant to protect against any future resurgence by the likes of the Clintons.

[rodguy911]

Excellent thread and post, my big worry remains China.

[fish hawk]

How can it be at it's end? They make it up as they go.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

They are not dead; they are plotting their next attack. BEWARE!

[Stringfellow Hawke]

Very nice article, I would not say the Left is dead, but seriously on the decline.

I think it is very stupid to give the Left any hints as to how to repair the damage they are doing to themselves, better to just stand aside and let them crash and burn.

[Alex Marko]

Dead...i'm not sure..but it is being split apart by radical liberals. The DNC as it was under clinton is not likely to resurface for a very long time.

[SaltyJoe]

IT'S NOT DEAD. NEVER WILL DIE, ONLY MUTATE.

It's a nicely written essay, except that I lived through Jimmy Carter to Reagan, etc. Why did America revert back to Clinton's leftist style? We must have forgotten how bad Jimmy and the left was. We'll forget again unless we educate and re-examine the cold hard facts.

[television is just wrong]

me too.