an assertion i found myself throwing out at c.w. post: we think of people like thoreau, or emerson, or william lloyd garrison, as leftists. thoreau in particular was a hero of the american peace and civil rights era. but i propose to you that their politics were no closer to barack obama's than they are to sarah palin's. this is because, though they were radical reformers and advocates of the rights of women, black folk, indians, etc, they were also radical protestant/post-protestant individualists. they were profoundly opposed to all forms of authority, particularly state authority. the statist solutions for every problem characteristic of the modern american left would have been as profoundly repugnant to them as, say, palin's rejection of gay rights. the hijacking of american radicalism by collectivism and authoritarianism is a profoundly sad story, a fundamental betrayal of the ideals of american liberatory saints.