In the spirit of multiple choice test questions, I thought it might be instructive to offer my own multiple-choice question for my readers. No grade will be given, but hopefully, after the several optional answers are weighed, a clear choice will emerge.

Therefore, here is the question to ponder. In the current war in which Israel is battling Hezbollah, the left seems largely to be more critical of Israel than of the terrorists of Hezbollah. Why is the left choosing to blame Israel more than Hezbollah?

Read the following answers carefully and choose the one that best answers the question presented to you.

A) Leftists really see a bigger threat from Israel to world peace than from Islamic terrorists.

B) Leftists hate war so much, that they are completely incapable of seeing any justification for war at any time or for any reason, including a nation defending itself.

C) There is an underlying, but deeply held feeling of anti-Semitism, in many the hearts of many Leftists.

D) For all their self-proclaimed open-mindedness, Leftists are unable to recognize evil or to grasp that evil must be faced and defeated or it will destroy us all.

OK kids we have the question and the possible answers, so let us now endeavor to find the best answer.A) Leftists really see a bigger threat from Israel to world peace than from Islamic terrorists.

Certainly, it does seem that the far left gets more distressed over Israeli strikes against terrorist groups than by the terror attacks against Israel, which cause the Israeli action. It seems that you can hear the proverbial crickets chirping when Hamas or Hezbollah commit some evil act against innocent Israeli civilians. Yet, when Israel uses its military might to go after the perpetrators of these terrorist acts, the far left goes into hyperbolic overload. They scream about innocent civilians being killed by Israel. They rant about violence not being the answer, and accuse Israel of creating terrorism by defending themselves. Very good answer let us examine the next one.B) Leftists hate war so much, that they are completely incapable of seeing any justification for war at any time or for any reason, including a nation defending itself.

There seems to be a lot of weight behind this answer too. Surely, the left never seems to approve of any military action by any free nation, even if that nation has been attacked, or is directly threatened. Again, we can certainly point to the slogans the left trots out at the “peace “rallies. “Make love not war”, “War is never the answer”, and of course “give peace a chance” all seem to peg the left as so ideologically opposed to war that they will never be able to see justification for war. War kills; killing is bad, so therefore, in the Leftist’s mind, war is always bad. Lots of weight behind answer B as well. On to the next one.C) There is an underlying, but deeply held feeling of anti-Semitism, in many the hearts of many Leftists.

This one might, at first glance, seem ridiculous and easily dismissible, but consider how many leftist groups are holding rallies in support of Hezbollah. I personally have been witness to Leftists questioning if Israel has a right to exist. I have had Leftists tell me they think Israel is more to blame than Hezbollah for the current conflict. Notice how many Leftists support the ideal that Palestine is the victim of Israeli oppression. Finally consider how many Leftists will say Israel is a terrorist state, or that the terror groups attacking Israel are “only using the only weapons they have”. Do not dismiss the anti-Semitism, that is bubbling under the surface of modern day leftist extremism.D) For all their self-proclaimed open-mindedness, Leftists are unable to recognize evil or to grasp that evil must be faced and defeated or it will destroy us all.

Boy, this one seems to nail it head on doesn’t it? I mean consider the left was never able to charge the Soviet Union with being evil because it committed horrible acts against its own people while crushing their liberty. Likewise, the left embraces evil dictators like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez on a regular basis. Consider also how T-shirts with the picture of Che Guerrera are so popular with Leftists. Certainly if the far left cannot recognize evil in these monsters, how can they see it in terrorists?

I have been doing this column for over ten years now, I have written about every controversial topic under the sun. Abortion, guns, taxes, spending, the Confederate flag, Southern heritage, race, terrorism, you name it and I have written about it. This column though, is the most serious and sober one I have ever written. It deals with the Mid-East, terrorism, Islamic Fascism and the distinct possibility that we may soon be engaged in World War 3.

Now I realize full well some will find that first paragraph hyperbolic and out of bounds. I also realize, however, that these times are deathly serious. The truth is recent events in Israel illustrate just how imperative it is for Israel, the United States, as well as Great Britain, Australia, and every other nation that embraces human rights and human liberty to make a very harsh decision. It is the time for the free world to decide that the threat presented by the terrorist Islamic fanatics is real and must be eliminated!

Note, it must be eliminated not appeased, or bargained with. It must be exterminated not appeased or bargained with. It must meet with eradication, not restraint! Restraint, of course is the new buzzword of those foolish enough to dream diplomacy or negotiation can somehow end the threat of Islamic Jihadists. Restraint will not insure peace. It will only serve to give the Jihadists more opportunities to commit acts of terror. There will be peace when, and ONLY when, Islamic terrorists have been totally and completely defeated with unmatchable and unforgiving military might!

Again, this is harsh language, but it is language the world needs to hear and heed. The United Nations and much of the world need to hear it desperately apparently. It is the United Nations types who are crying for Israel to use restraint when they retaliate against Hamas and Hezbollah, for recent attacks by those terror groups on Israel. Excuse me but restraint? Has restraint ever worked for Israel? How many times have they shown restraint and been rewarded by more homicide bombers?

Terrorists do not use restraint, if they could kill Israel to the last child they would. They would happily do the same to Canada, England, America, and every other nation that does not wish to submit to their evil fanaticism. It is frankly well past time the free world accepted that terrorism is as evil as Hitler’s Nazi Germany was. We are now on the road towards a global war, which will cost many lives. The question is not if anymore. It is indeed merely a question of when.

The matter of when is in our hands not the terrorist. We can, on one hand, opt to wait and fool ourselves that diplomacy and restraint will somehow work where they have failed over and again. Will such a course prevent war? Will it prevent Iran or Syria, from one day arming themselves, Al Qaeda, Hamas, or Hezbollah with a nuclear weapon? Will it prevent one of these fanatical groups from using that nuclear device to murder hundreds of thousands? Only the fools at the United Nations can believe restraint would suddenly succeed after failing every other time it has been tried.

If we again foolishly invest our hope in restraint, we will one day be greeted by a mushroom cloud over Tokyo, or London, or Madrid, or Chicago, or Toronto or some other city of innocent civilians. That will happen if we follow the path of restraint. Terrorists always, always, always meet our restraint with brutality and barbarity. Crossing our fingers and listening to intellectual midgets like Kofi Anan will get us nowhere and in the end will only cost more lives. The path of restraint will not deter a worldwide war, it will only delay it. Did we learn nothing from the failed appeasement of Hitler before the WW II?

So if restraint is not the path what should be? Well let us look at what Israel has sworn to do to Hezbollah and Hamas. Instead of listening to foolish world opinion of the need for restraint, Israeli leader Ehud Olmert has declared his intent to eliminate these two terror groups. "We stand at a national moment of truth. Will we agree to live under this evil threat or will we fight. … There is no more just struggle than that we are now engaged in," Olmert said, according to Israel National News.

"Citizens of Israel, there are moments in the life of a nation, when it is compelled to look directly into the face of reality and say: Enough," he said.

"And I say to everyone: Enough is enough. Israel will not be held hostage – not by terror gangs or by a terrorist authority or by any sovereign state."

"There is nothing we want more than peace on all of our borders; Israel will not agree to live with rockets fired on its citizens. Only a nation that can protect its freedom deserves it."

He is right, and every other nation that loves liberty and respects human life must join Israel and erase, eliminate, eradicate, and exterminate Islamic terrorists now. This is a harsh course, but in the big picture, it is the right and moral one. As stated earlier we can wait for a nuke to detonate in one of our nations, or we can resolve now to end the threat and tolerate this evil no longer! Yes, it will mean some civilian deaths, yes, it will be bloody and yes, and it will be horrific. However, if we, the free world allow ourselves to believe such a course is not required much more blood, horror and many more innocent deaths will be the result.

These terror groups as well as Syria, Iran and every other state that supports them must be crushed with devastating military might as well. Yes, again very harsh, but what “restraint” will they show to us the second the get a nuclear weapon. They must be met with such force as is necessary to eliminate any threat to the free world they pose.

David Letterman has made a career of making people laugh. His show has been on TV for far more than a decade now, and, one of America’s favorite parts of that show is Dave’s Top Ten. I must say, I enjoy it as much as the next person does.

In honor of David Letterman’s Top Ten, this column is my own version of a top ten. The top ten list of stupid, inane, asinine, and, loony leftist ideals. Now in making such a list, in attempting to whittle down to just ten, the most foolish of leftist ideals, I have worked tirelessly and diligently to include only those leftist ideals that not only reach the bottom of the pit of inanity, but those that required extra digging as well.

By the way, as a side note, if any Leftists find themselves offended, put out, aggrieved, or suffering from a bruising of their ever-fragile self-esteem after reading this column, let me say good! The Left is always seeking something to be hurt or upset over anyway, so I consider it a very special honor to help them out in their never-ending pursuit of a pity party!

Now, on with the official Doug Hagin Top Ten List of Stupid, Inane, Asinine, and Loony Leftist Ideals.

Number ten- Environmentalism. Now concern for the environment is a good thing, as is a healthy appreciation of nature and its matchless beauty and splendor. The left, however, goes far beyond reality in their version of environmentalism. The Left does not stop at reasonable conservation measures, or reasonable regulations on pollution. Instead they would have the United States, one of the environmentally clean nations, submit to the Kyoto Protocol, which would do serious damage to our economy. The reason they would have us wreck the greatest economy in the world? Well to stop global warming of course! This despite the reality that this theory has never been proven to be true.

Number nine - It Takes a Village. Now this jewel of foolishness is the brainchild of the Left’s heroine Hillary Clinton. The simple fact is the left has always and will always think collectively. They hate individualism and acknowledging parents as the most important factor in raisin children flies in the face of the left’s fascination with collectivism. While many people may have wonderful influences in a child’s life, it takes parents, and not some leftist village to raise a child.

Number eight- Children are Incapable of Handling Stress. The left likes to feel that children must be raised and educated in an environment totally insulated from any negativity. A few examples of this include teachers ceasing their use of red ink to correct children’s tests or homework, or the erasing of certain parts of history because teaching it might hurt some child’s feelings.

Children are not so fragile that having spelling mistakes corrected or history that might be painful taught to them. Protecting children from every possible offense will not serve them well. It will instead serve to leave the ill prepared for the reality that life can be unpleasant at times.

Number seven-Competition is Bad. Nothing could be more asinine than the Left’s infatuation with the notion that competition is unhealthy for people. People, by their nature, are competitive. We desire to excel, not to be held back. It is OK to want to win, and nothing will help us, no matter where life leads us, more than having a healthy competitive streak. Yes, competition does mean some people will lose. Losing can teach us to push harder though, and that can create greatness.

Number six- Health Care is a Right. Health care is some civil right everyone has, according to the left. No, actually health care is a personal responsibility. You and I are responsible for our own destinies; it is a part of liberty. Health care is part of that responsibility. The left, again, thinks collectively on this subject. Their ideal is for everyone to pay for everyone else’s health care. Of course, socialized medicine is well below the standard America has, but the left would gladly sacrifice quality for collectivist idealism.

Number five-Wealth is Bad. Again, the collectivist ideology of the left is on display here. It is, to a devoted Leftist unfair that one American has more than another does. Their solution, punish the bad successful folks with heavy taxes and give the money to a wasteful federal government to dole out to those not as successful. This is lunacy of course. Punishing success and redistributing wealth is a recipe for failure of the people and the nation as a whole.

Number four- Racism is Rampant and can only be Solved by Leftist Tolerance. Despite the constant cry, that racism is alive and thriving in America, most folks could not care less about skin color. The left, naturally, sees race relations from the prism of pessimism. Every time any minority loses a job, does not get a promotion, gets a speeding ticket, or stubs a toe, the left is ready to blame racism. The fact is it is the Leftists who are hung up on skin color. Race is not important, to most of us. Well, except for the left of course.

Number three- Abortion. The left, despite all the medical evidence stacked against them, still clings to abortion as some sacrament. In their pursuit to erase personal responsibility, they willingly support the killing of the most innocent of human life, the unborn. Their vile defense of this atrocity only points out how little respect or admiration they hold for human life. To them life is only precious according to the “quality” of it. Of course, they are all too happy to define what “quality” is.

Number two-Guns are Bad. The left hates guns. They hate those who own them. They hate those who defend themselves with guns. Why? Well guns allow individuals to defend themselves, property and rights. The left, again collectivists to the core, want the defense of rights to be handled by government. An individual who owns a gun steps outside the collectivist utopia the left desires so deeply. Gun owners who use their gun to defend themselves are even worse to the left. By their actions, they have illustrated that rights are individual, and can be protected by individuals. That is a direct threat to leftist collectivism.

Number one-Appeasing Evil Ensures Peace. Of all the foolish notion the left subscribes to, this ideal is surely the most inane. The left has, over the course of history, tried to appease Nazis, Stalinists, dictators, and terrorists. They have preached peaceful solutions, refused to accept that violence not only can be the solution but sometimes is the only solution, all the while evil never was appeased. Hundreds of millions have suffered horrible fates, hundreds of millions have died, and the left STILL thinks we can understand evildoers and change them without violence.

Evil exists and must be crushed, defeated and eradicated. There is no understanding it, or reasoning with it, or appeasing it. We will kill it, or it will kill us, it is that simple. In fact, the only thing simpler than this truth is Leftist thinking.