Blockading ideas

The ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas [and] the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market. Oliver Wendell Holmes

Peggy Noonan has a wonderful piece on OpinionJournal today about the crushing of dissent by the left.

Let us be more pointed. Students, stars, media movers, academics: They are always saying they want debate, but they don't. They want their vision imposed. They want to win. And if the win doesn't come quickly, they'll rush the stage, curse you out, attempt to intimidate.

And they don't always recognize themselves to be bullying. So full of their righteousness are they that they have lost the ability to judge themselves and their manner.

And all this continues to come more from the left than the right in America.

When was the last time you heard of a liberal speaker being shouted down by a conservative audience? As Noonan points out, the driving force behind this behavior is the thought that, "I feel so much, therefore my views are correct and must prevail."

And doesn't that succinctly sum up the ethos of modern liberalism? It's predominantly a feelings-based political philosophy. It doesn't matter that the policies they espouse have been proven not to work. What matters is that they will have done something (enacted a law, taxed people more, regulated an activity), and that fact alone will allow them to feel better about themselves.

The narcissism in the face of facts takes your breath away.