There is a marvelous etching by Spanish painter and print-maker Francisco Goya. Captioned, "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters," we see the sleeping artist depicted as being tormented by owls and bats, symbols of folly and ignorance.
Its implications seem to have been lost on humanity in the intervening 200 years. These days, there are no lack of villains du jour - monsters real and imagined: Fundamentalist Christians, Right wing pundits, Republicans, Neoliberals, Neocons, corporations, Wall Street, terrorists, foreign tin pot despots, etc.
It is easy to blame so many of these dark forces of folly and ignorance for our modern ills. I choose to blame "Liberals." Lest you think I have gone over to Rick Santorum or Pat Robertson, let me explain myself.
"Both (the Islamists and Neoconservatives) were idealists who were born out of the failure of the liberal dream to build a better world. And both had a very similar explanation for what caused that failure. These two groups have changed the world, but not in the way that either intended. Together, they created today's nightmare vision of a secret, organized evil that threatens the world - a fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and authority in a disillusioned age. And those with the darkest fears became the most powerful."
In this concise introductory statement from his groundbreaking BBC series, "The Power of Nightmares," Adam Curtis identifies two of the dark forces that emerged as a result of Liberalism's failure to remain true to its own vision. The victories of Roosevelt's New Deal, the violent, hard won Labor struggles, women's and racial rights - nearly all have been seriously compromised by both political parties.
Heinous politicians from Bush to Obama have moved to capitalize on the dark sleep of reason and the vacuum a failed Liberalism has created to secure their grasp on brutal power.
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