Busy Day, but a Thought

Today and yesterday were filled, to the brim, but here's at least one thought for a pretty summer Friday: the left is intellectually bankrupt. It's a theme we return to here frequently, and for a couple of reasons. First, after spending years in academe listening to conservatives described as ignorant, unread, and unsophisticated, several of us have pretty well had it with anyone who attempts to substitute attitude for knowledge.

Second, the intellectual implosion of the left not only shows no signs of abating: it is, if anything, accelerating. This is remarkable, as it has been in a depressed state for some time, and that it would sink lower isn't something one might expect. That sentiment is strengthened by the fact that so much ink has been spilled decrying the left's decline. One would think that the much-anticipated turn-around would have started by now, and yet no revival is on the horizon.

Today, Charles Krauthammer adds his voice to the chorus of those decrying the intellectual collapse of liberalism. He seizes on The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) as the latest example of liberal decline, and he's right to do so, but he had many examples to choose from: yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in Kelo vs. City of New London, for example, which was supported by liberal justices, opposed by the conservative wing, and lauded by the New York Times. Pro-state, anti-freedom; pro-cartel, anti-free trade: little thought is needed to support such positions; better, they believe, to embrace an intellectually vacuous, elitist pseudo-philosophy until the bitter end.