*Does America Sit Under a Rising or Setting Sun? By Matt Patterson.

*David Brooks draws a distinction between the “educated class” and the “public” in his latest article:

“The educated class believes in global warming, so public skepticism about global warming is on the rise. The educated class supports abortion rights, so public opinion is shifting against them. The educated class supports gun control, so opposition to gun control is mounting.

The story is the same in foreign affairs. The educated class is internationalist, so isolationist sentiment is now at an all-time high, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The educated class believes in multilateral action, so the number of Americans who believe we should “go our own way” has risen sharply.”

Oh, if only those ignorant hicks would just get on board with central control and regulation, we could have the international Obamatopia Mr. Brooks believes in so fiercely.  Memo to David: Some of us here in fly-over country are “educated” too.  In fact, we have degrees, and jobs that don’t require kissing up to the Administration 7 days a week, which makes the “public” both smarter and freer than thee.

RELATED: The Divine Right of Intellectuals, by David Hogberg.

RELATED II: Intellectuals and Society, by Thomas Sowell.

“But certainly, during the 20th century, it is hard to escape the conclusion that intellectuals have on balance made the world a worse and more dangerous place. Scarcely a mass-murdering dictator of the 20th century was without his supporters, admirers, or apologists among the leading intellectuals — not only within his own country, but in foreign democracies, where intellectuals were free to say whatever they wanted.”

*Obama as Greek Tragedy – Part  One, by Victor Davis Hanson.

*Could Howard Dean Primary Obama? By Jay Cost.

*Why ObamaCare Must Be Defeated, by Ron Radosh.

*The West is Choked With Fear, by Henryk M. Broder.

“The attack on illustrator Kurt Westergaard wasn’t the first attempt to carry out a deadly fatwa. When Muslims tried to murder Salman Rushdie 20 years ago, the protests among intellectuals were loud. Today, though, Western writers and thinkers would rather take cover than defend basic rights.”

Read the whole thing.

RELATED: America is Losing the Free World, by Gideon Rachman.

*Liberalism, It’s Hangover Time, by Jonah Goldberg.