History Has No Right Side

Heather Wilhelm writes for RealClearPolitics, today about the idea of being "on the right side of history."

Much has been said about the absurdity of stating that a person or idea is “on the right side of history”—a belief that history is a linear, upward trajectory to an ever-improving society, punctured by occasional purifying conflicts. Looking back at the actual past, alas, tells a different story: History, if anything, seems cyclical, and it is alternately weird, crazy, confusing, and cruel. Villains sometimes win. Dictators rise. People enslave other people. Wars erupt. There may be good and evil, and there may be ultimate cosmic justice at the hands of God, but human history has no “right” side for one reason: Bad things will inevitably happen again.

In the minds of most folks, "the right side of history" is my side. Our opponents (whatever they believe) are on "the wrong side." End of story.