April 06, 2004

Lefty love for [yet another] Nazi philosopher. "The charitable reading of all of this is that [Alan] Wolfe is being a tad Straussian, hiding his real attack on the academic Left — which actually likes [Nazi legal theoriest Carl]Schmitt — by feinting an attack on Coulter & Co. Indeed, maybe this is even a wink-and-a-nod to Friedrich Hayek's allusion to "lovers of liberty in all parties." If that's the case, I salute Wolfe, even if I fear that he's being too clever by half.

And then there's the uncharitable reading: namely, that Wolfe is being deliberately sloppy, or intellectually dishonest, by mounting a sweeping guilt-by-association attack on conservatives who have no actual association with a "Nazi philosopher," while breezily forgiving the Left for having a deep, lasting, and revealing association with not just one — but many .. ". more Jonah Goldberg.

FOOTNOTE: Hayek dedicated The Road to Serfdom to "Socialists of All Parties". I've never come across any allusion to "lovers of liberty in all parties" in Hayek's work. Posted by Greg Ransom