SCHISM ON THE LEFT
SCHISM ON THE LEFT: I’ve been discussing Just War theory as it applies to the impending war with Iraq with Sean-Paul of The Agonist. This brought to mind my post here a couple weeks ago on Prof. Michael Walzer’s comments at Brookings (transcript of which is now up here). The mental gymnastics to which decent, intellectually honest leftists (and there are many) have to perform to continue to oppose the war in Iraq and continue to argue the moral equivalency of George W. Bush, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, and the like, are just astounding. I think there will come a time in the not-too-distant future when many of them will stop trying. The recent departure of Christopher Hitchens from The Nation, which he explains rather forcefully in this column and pieces like Walzer’s “Can There be a Decent Left?” strike me as evidence that many leftist intellectuals are having a difficult time keeping company with others who share that banner.
