France Fries Part Trois

Over at Chicago Boyz, a thoughtful post on the collapse of the last leftist outpost:

The Left lost its earlier worldly utopia when the Soviet Union fell apart. 1989 was not only the year that the countries of Central Europe regained their independence, it was also the year that the Left began to lose its organizing principle, its focus, and to begin casting around for a new organizing principle. The Soviet Union had been the focus of ardent loyalty amongst many American Leftists in the 1930s and for some up to the 1950s. After that the Soviet Union, whatever its defects, was seen as the supporter of progressive forces – and Leftist poster-children -- of the day, like Mao, Castro, Che Guevara, the Viet Cong or the Sandinistas. Even into the 1980s there were many Leftists in the West who could come up with good things to say about the Soviet Union. And even as the rotten juggernaut began to crumble more and more visibly, it was at least still possible to attack its enemies as “McCarthyists”, and to despise anti-communists as hicks, militarists, religious cranks, and otherwise unsophisticated and contemptible.

With the Soviet Union gone, the Leftists shifted or intensified their focus on various “progressive” causes, such as anti-globalization, environmentalism, multiculturalism and radical feminism. However, there was no particular geographic locus for these causes, no place where “real existing” progressivism could be found. The enemy, however, remained clear: The West, especially the United States and its capitalist economic system.

What I have observed in the last few years, especially since the Iraq war began, is a strong revival of an older liberal vision, which saw Europe as being a model for a more socialistic society, which the USA should supposedly emulate. (Remember Mike Dukakis went on vacation with a book on Swedish land-use regulation for beach reading?) The idea has been promoted more and more that the European model of multiculturalism, socialist management of the economy, a relaxed attitude toward work, high taxes, lavish benefits, antipathy to Christianity, and pacifism is the one that the United States should emulate.

Of course, read the whole thing.

Update: Since the media has yet to identify who the "youths" are, perhaps you can figure it out my listening to the screaming of the religious zealots.

Via LGF.

Update #2: Frank J. is having a field day.