James Kirchik, writing a brilliant farewell column in the Yale Daily News, takes note of prominent Yale graduate Chesa Boudin, the fourth generation of a prominent left wing family. Chesa was raised by left wingers while his parents were jailed, and  groomed for power at Yale and Oxford.Chesa  follows the family tradition of  advocacy for Marxist dictators

Like his parents, Chesa sees no moral relationship between means and ends. About Venezuela, he told the Times that,

"The fact that we have a country that's trying to create an alternative model is bold and ambitious and unique, and that's why people are wondering, 'Is it possible?'"

The horrors of the 20th century ought to have erased any doubt in the mind of a Yale—educated Rhodes scholar about attempts to yet again create Heaven on Earth and Socialist Man.

It is incorrect to label Boudin a useful idiot. Idiots do not become Rhodes scholars. His obvious intelligence makes his embrace of undemocratic tactics all the more troubling. Chesa calls Venezeula's democracy "protagonistic."People without hard—headed, Marxist political illusions call it "authoritarian."

In addition to the tracts on the Venezuelan New Jerusalem, Chesa recently edited "Letters from Young Activists: Today's Rebels Speak Out," a book that includes the epistles of some 40 precocious radicals. In a letter written to his incarcerated father, Chesa demonstrates his terrifying ethical calculus. He tells Dad that his life sentence as an accomplice in three homicides is "largely a product of your own commitment to progressive political change and to the inherent value and equality of human life." Apparently this "commitment" does not extend to the pigs.

A great topic and a great new voice. Read the whole thing.

Thomas Lifson   4 27 06