The cowardice of the Opti-Cons

A reaction intrinsic to modern, “optimistic,” conservatives is that the moment some destructive liberal attitude or behavior seems to have been mitigated even to the slightest degree, the Opti-Cons rush into print happily claiming that we’ve turned the corner, we’ve rounded the bend, we’re in the clear, we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Thus a few years ago when there was a tiny drop in the black illegitimacy rate, from something like 68.3 percent to 67.9 percent, these conservatives began saying that the black illegitimacy problem had been solved, or at least was no longer the grave problem we previously had thought it was. The operative assumption of the Opti-Cons is that liberalism only needs to be slightly tweaked in order to be A-OK.

Displaying a similar false optimism, Investors Business Daily published an editorial this week entitled “Europe Gets It.” The editorial says:

A rash of thwarted terrorist attacks timed for 9/11 should remind us of the threat from radical Islam. Fortunately, after a long slumber, our allies in Europe seem to be waking up to the challenge.

The rest of the editorial recounts a remarkable series of arrests of Muslims in several European countries in the past week for planning terrorist attacks. But what’s new about that? How does the surveillance and arrest of actual terrorist suspects represent a new departure? European authorities have been tracking and trying to arrest terrorists for years. The surveillance and arrest of terrorists does not demonstrate in any way that the Europeans are waking up to the ongoing advance of Islamization and seeking to stop and reverse it. In its delusive optimism, the phrase “Europe Gets It” is as dishonest and irresponsible as the Washington Times headline two days ago, “Britain halts immigration.”

The underlying reason for the false optimism of many conservatives is that they themselves are liberals or at least share basic liberal assumptions. This is a question I’ve addressed many times, for example, here.

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David C.H. writes:

Re: Turning the Corner.

I remember years ago in the Vietnam era the Administration spoke often of “turning the corner.” Some editorial cartoonist got tired of this and made a drawing showing some citizen feeling his way along a wall consisting of endless right-angle corners, extending to the horizon.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 11, 2007 12:30 PM | Send