Hitchens dissects the current political landscape in which traditional values of Right and Left have been eroded away.If you are seriously interested in politics you will have noticed that many traditional assumptions no longer apply. Many of those who supported the war in Iraq were from the Left and in the current arguments about liberty and security, political conservatives have been as least as active as the traditional Left in opposing increased state powers. The main assault on freedom of expression currently comes from the Left, in the form of political correctness.At the same time other traditional and customary frontiers between Left and Right have melted away. The argument about state ownership of the economy has simply ceased to matter. But it seems the Right are just as confused as their counterparts. Neoconservatism, a test tube baby of an idea, has been invented to allow intelligent disillusioned Marxists to become loyal US citizens.But how did we get here? Three names explain all; Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan. Probably unknowingly, they unfroze domestic and international politics. Thatcher and Reagan were apparently deeply conservative but in fact extraordinarily radical and both steered away from the battle between revolutionary and conservative in our time. We are now faced with a battle between the pursuit of individual happiness and self restraint governed by conscience.Politics & government.