Like a troop of soap opera actors convinced they are perennially on the verge of real stardom, modern leftists seem persuaded liberalism lacks only an unblocked opportunity to show the world it is an unrivaled theory of sheer genius. Yet conservatives argue it has been the very lack of a chance to fully implement pure liberalism – until now – that gave liberals their cover, helping obscure certain, unmitigated failure behind a vain mirage of gold-foil triumph.