Getting on Board the Cedar Express

The mysteriously named "Cicero" at Winds of Change posts a lengthy discussion of the democracy movement in Lebanon and the Left's response to it, or lack of response. He (she?) begins with a wonderful restatement of our global objectives, renaming the "War on Terror" the "War on Tyranny."

Lebanon's growing democracy movement offers the Western left the opportunity to become relevant in the War on Terror -- a war that might be more accurately described as a War on Tyranny. Tyranny endures when free people do nothing to stop it; and it prospers when they cut deals with tyrants. Strategic collusion with autocrats had its place in the context of Cold War realpolitik -- but doing so in the Global War on Terror undermines the free world's main line of defense against terrorists, by giving oxygen to the tyrannical regimes that support them.

This was the message of the president's State of the Union Address, at least as I heard it. As we well know from our experience of the 20th century, "wars" of this sort can be "Hot" or "Cold", and the War on Tyranny will likely be both, at times. At the moment we are winding down one of the "hot" phases of the war, and opening a "cold" phase on multiple fronts. This is not a time, as I said in a post yesterday, for any of our leadership to be sitting on the sidelines. Cicero points out that there is an opportunity in present events for the American Left to become reengaged on important and relevant issues without giving up its core philosophy. It requires only that they get over their pathological hatred for President Bush.

If liberals reclaim progressivism by embracing democratic activism in Lebanon, the result will be a stronger front against tyranny -- because in the end, that's what we're all fighting. And liberals would have more traction when arguing their differences with the Bush administration for promoting liberty. For example, the Bush administration has gotten cozy with the dictatorship of Islom Karimov in Uzbekistan. Certainly, there's a strategic reality to the relationship required to defeat the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan; but Karimov's murderous, tyrannical regime is gaining strength from American support, at the expense of Uzbek liberty. Liberals who actively support and promote democracy in Lebanon (and hopefully, Iraq too) could claim a higher moral ground than they currently occupy as mere Bush naysayers.

Senator Hillary Clinton, ever the shrewd presidential hopeful, has been polishing her pro-democracy stand against Syria. Say what you want about Senator Clinton, but she's not stupid. Her growing hawkishness is pragmatic -- she's demonstrating that there's something liberals can learn from neoconservatives, and apply it to liberalism. She's moving on.

Cicero has done a much better job than I could explaining the point I was getting at in yesterday's post. It's time for the leaders on the left to emulate Senator Clinton and "move on" to the important issues and opportunities in front of us. By agreeing that "in the end, that's what we're all fighting" we can have a healthy debate on the best tactics, unify the country behind a plan of action, and present, as Cicero says, "a stronger front against tyranny." The potential payoff from victory here is much too great to risk it in petulant rehashing of last year's issues.