Since Sontag's bull, the chorus from the left has grown against "Pre-emption" and led to many very stupid statements about the futility of opposing terrorism and rogue state's with military force. A memorable example came from Professor James Galbraith in the American Prospect just a few days into our forces' dance through Iraq, in which he pronounced the war practically lost and suggested that we salvage our "disastrous position" and "accept a cease-fire, which would lead to the withdrawal of coalition forces under safe conduct." Safe conduct from whom -- the Iraqi army then on the run?
The left's complaints against America -- its foreign policy, its economy, its culture -- have expanded steadily for five decades. With the presidential campaign of Sen. George McGovern in 1972, the left's influence has suffused much of the Democratic Party and many cultural institutions. In fact, many of the Democrats seeking the presidential nomination at this very hour intone the left's complaints against American culture and now even in this hour of vindication Bush's policy of "Pre-emption."
This colossal record of error makes one wonder. The left has been wrong for so long and about so much. Remember in the 1980s and 1990s the widespread claim on the left about how as an economic power America was kaput? Remember the claptrap about how we were running out of resources? Read the intellectually indispensable Paul Krugman in his New York Times column. He spouts this stuff even now.
The left has been wrong for so long that no knowledgeable observer even expects its pontificators to be right. I do not believe many members of the left expect to be right. Yet after all these decades of erroneous pronouncements, the American left remains both intellectually and morally superior to you and me.
The American left is the only intellectual force in Western history to gain moral superiority by being wrong. In world history, I can think of only one other movement that has gained moral and intellectual superiority in this way, the mullahs of Islamic fundamentalism.
I hope the monitors of Homeland Security keep this in mind. Be careful about allowing Susan Sontag to board an airplane. Do not be surprised if Paul Krugman is arrested for wearing a suicide vest. Professor Galbraith, you are right. The authorities have their eyes on you.