I need to confess my deepest, darkest secret. Back when I was a political amateur, not knowing any better, I almost became a Leftist. That’s a compliment to how genuinely productive and sensible their values seemed at the time, at least to my young, untrained mind. Having glimpsed at the horrors of war through my parent’s stories, I was naturally drawn to the Left’s anti-war rhetoric, a reputation they built over decades of protesting the West’s global intervention.

As a writer, I also admired their liberal approach towards free speech and the healthy exchange of ideas, instilled mostly during my time...