The Wisdom of Jeane Kirkpatrick

Jeane Kirkpatrick, a key Reagan advisor who lit up the world with her famous essay, "Dictators and Double Standards," is remembered favorably by Clifford May for her early recognition of the threat Islamism presents to liberal democracy:

She perceived early on that the collapse of the Soviet Union was not the end of history — with history defined as the long struggle between tyranny and liberty. Instead, Communism’s demise cleared the way for a different kind of totalitarianism: What Kirkpatrick metaphorically called “messianic creeds” were replaced by messianic creeds in the literal sense. She despaired when Andrew Young, Carter’s U.N. ambassador, called Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the Iranian revolution, “some sort of saint.”

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Justin Green

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