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The ouster of the Popular Party in Spain's elections yesterday will hopefully make Americans who understand the necessity of taking the war on terror to the terrorists even more convinced in the righteousness of their cause. If Socialist Party leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero makes good on his pledge to bring home Spanish troops in Iraq unless the UN takes over there in June, he will set back Spain's entry into the modern world. For the true reactionaries in this battle are those who favor the status quo ante, when complacency and cowardice were deemed sufficient to protect cynical Europeans from bloodthirsty thugs. The results of this policy were disastrous in the 1930s, and they'll result in more corruption and bloodshed today unless the slide toward appeasement can be stopped.

I listened to the BBC's broadcast at 9:00 am EST, and the exhilaration of their reporters manifested they're feelings of vindication in their fight with Tony Blair and President Bush. Americans used to take the cultural and intellectual superiority of Europeans for granted. More recently, with the growth in sophistication of our native pallets and arts, this view has mostly receded to the far left and far right, both of whom despise middle class culture and the liberty it enshrines. Look for eye-rolling among naysayers to increase in this election year -- "if only that rube Bush knew what they understand so effortlessly on the Continent" -- and for a backlash against such unctuousness.