ROY EDROSO

Take a look at this:

Armed Liberal, June 3:

"I'm also a liberal, who believes that the government has the obligation, not just the right, to work to make our society, nation and world a better place..."

Armed Liberal, Nov. 10:

"...a basic principle I'll set out as a guiding point for the Democrats and the Left in general as they try and figure out the next act in this drama we are in. First, you have to love America...And for everyone who is going to comment and remind me that 'all liberals already do that'...no they don't."

Matt Welch, March 2002:

"I won't speak to my own writing abilities, but to answer his question, which has been asked before: I'm a liberal."

Matt Welch, Nov. 6:

"I was at the [Republican gubernatorial candidate] Simon headquarters all night, and it was a giddy place for most of it...My unoriginal national take--the Dems screwed themselves..."

Mickey Kaus (kausfiles), Nov. 6:

"I should add, as a postscript to 'Why kf is rooting for Republicans,' that there are at least three non-paleo Democratic candidates I admire...They all lost."

(No concordance here: Kaus has been widely described as a liberal, though reasons for this are lost to history.)

Andrea Peyser, New York Post Nov. 6:

"On paper, I look like a Democrat...Personally, I like tax cuts. And the death penalty."

Linda Stasi, New York Post, Nov. 10:

"And it ain't getting better for the Dems...And Al? Wasn't he the one that got Gored by a Bush and killed in the press...their party (my party) ought to consider trading in that donkey for a jackass."

William Saletan, Nov. 6:

"Uh oh. Here come the left-wingers, blaming the Democratic Party's poor showing in Tuesday's elections on its drift to the right...If Democrats are going to settle on a message and a leader, the evidence still shows they're better off in the center, for the simple reason that this allows them to choose the differences that are most favorable to them."

(Saletan has described himself as a "knee-jerk liberal." Again, the reasons are unclear.)

You see how it is.

After their poor electoral showing on Tuesday, the Democrats are getting all sorts of conciliatory pats on the back and advice from people who are, more or less, the sworn enemies of everything they stand for. Even Peggy Noonan, the Riefenstahl of Reaganism, is dishing out helpful hints.

She, and the rest of them, have as much help to offer as Rufus Griswold had for Edgar Allan Poe. But it's the response of some purported Dems and libs that's been most interesting. Their general idea seems to be that liberalism as a creed is finished, and that the Democratic party can only save itself by distancing itself from their base, and by behaving as much like Republicans as possible.

This (the necessity for forgiving the following expression erat demonstondum) dovetails nicely with the oft-stated desire to eliminate the labels "left" and "right" from our discourse. "InstaPundit is site of the month over at Enter Stage Right, though they correctly report that I am not a conservative, but a Whig," states Glenn Reynolds. "Does that count as right-wing? Who knows, anymore?" (Anyone who takes a quick scroll through Reynolds' pages, that's who.) Andrew Sullivan, never short of gall, writes, "We all know how tired left and right are as useful labels. (Yes, I know I use them, but sometimes, you gotta.)" Like when he's identifying fifth columnists, for instance. Sullivan bids "hawks" and "doves" begone, in favor of "eagles." Thus, not for the first time, Sullivan sends Franklin spinning in his grave.

Perhaps it's time for an Adlai Stevenson Liberation Army (ASLA). Stevenson was a governor of Illinois and ran twice, unsuccessfully, as the Democratic candidate for President. His intelligence, mild manner, and gawky physical presence is the prototype of the Mallard Fillmore caricature of liberals that still prevails, and the most popular slur against him was that he was an "egghead," meaning, one supposes, that he was smart and didn't mind that people noticed. He was also a forthright, unapologetic liberal--a "Cold War liberal" who stood strongly against tyrannies of whatever origin, but did not use this as an excuse to abandon his principles of social justice. He was buried under a monument shaped to look like the United Nations Building, and one of his major speeches has a title that resonates in our day: "Liberalism vs. Competitive Indoctrination."

Opponents of ASLA will scoff that Stevenson was a loser, the most serious allegation that one can make in our benighted age. Yet if you seek his monument, look around you, though more closely than Christopher Wren's case would require. Many of his principles still flourish, though they are under ferocious attack these days. Stevenson was a tough old bird after all; electoral defeat and name-calling didn't shake his fundaments. I believe he would even withstand a Fisking with his grace, humor, and philosophical self-assurance intact.

Of how many can this be said today?