Historical comparisons of current events often times become a lot like political polling. If one disagrees with the poll, then the questioner or the sampling was biased or in error. If one agrees with it, it represents some great insight into the wisdom of the general public. So it goes with historical comparisons – you like it, you cite it; you disagree with it, you disregard it. The recent debate about historical comparisons and the War On Terror provides a perfect example of how this declaratory disregard for history has solidified for liberals their permanent places of honor among the perpetually na’ve.
How quickly we forget that history did not begin in 1985. How quickly we forget that right up until the end of the Cold War the most ardent opponents of Soviet containment were liberal Democrats. While the liberal/conservative divide in the American domestic political sense doesn’t apply to confronting Hitler prior to World War II, it was this same sense of na’vet