THERE’S A SCENE in Oliver Stone’s movie, “Nixon”, that I have never forgotten. The President decides to visit a student anti-war protest vigil at the Lincoln Memorial. Unable to believe their eyes at first, the demonstrators are soon engaged in a lively debate with their movement’s bête noir.

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Known principally for his political commentaries in The Dominion Post, The ODT, The Press and the late, lamented Independent, and for "No Left Turn", his 2007 history of the Left/Right struggle in New...