"If the moralizing Left wants to be taken seriously, it is going have to become serious about its own moral issues, since that is the professed currency of contemporary liberalism."
As much as I admire Hansen, I find that Jacques Barzun has a much more compelling critique of the liberal left and a much greater understanding of the moral degeneracy of modern liberals and the utter collapse of the entire liberal project that has held sway in the western world for so long. Hansen still seems to want to reform the left, for whatever reason I can't understand. Barzun recognizes that the liberals of today are pure evil; their influence should be destroyed altogether.
Read "From Dawn to Decadence" by Barzun, a recent book. Or "The House of Intellect" and "The Use and Abuse of Art", written in the 1950's, the heyday of modern liberalism. Barzun has had these monsters pegged for a very long time. I think Barzun has a broader and more far-ranging mind and perspective then Hansen, and that's saying a lot.
Just a thought for some of you. Part of my job is that of a meeting planner. In 2005 (for the second time in five years) VDH will be the lead speaker at my annual meeting. Believe it or not, he is a better speaker than he is a writer. He will, simply "transfix" an audience. I'm certainly not "shilling for him", but he's very good at what he does. So, if you're in the business of putting on meetings, conferences, etc. he's an excellent choice.