#70: Intellectual Growth

IDENTITY POLITICS | Mark Boonstra: Well done, David Joel Horowitz, thou good and faithful servant. May we all learn from your legacy.

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Judge Mark Boonstra’s contributions to our Identity Politics Series have been nothing short of invaluable. His depth of knowledge, unwavering commitment to truth, and thoughtful historical and personal insights have profoundly enriched our platform. Beyond his scholarly expertise, he has been a faithful friend and brother in Christ—someone whose dedication to the Kingdom and to illuminating critical issues with wisdom and integrity has been a true blessing. We are deeply grateful for his willingness to share his perspective, challenge conventional narratives, and provide content that informs and uplifts the Body of Christ. His presence in this work has strengthened our mission, and we honor his role in shaping meaningful discourse. -Stephen Phinney

Intellectual Growth: A Tribute to David Horowitz

In this time of political divisiveness, it is easy to flippantly dismiss those who disagree with us.

Indeed, in the modern world, that seems to be the preferred method for dealing with the discomfort associated with any strife-filled encounter.

It’s simply too hard to have to wrestle with opposing arguments. Or to have to face up to what may be weaknesses in our own positions. It’s far easier to simply write off our detractors, escape to our own bubbles, and seek reaffirmation from others who think like us.

But this is a recipe for disaster.

Let me give an analogy from the world of law.

As advocates for the interests of their clients, it is easy for lawyers to put on blinders and to see the world only as their clients see it. The other side is wrong about everything and just plain evil. You and your client, on the other hand, embody truth and justice, motherhood and apple pie.

But as any good lawyer knows, you represent your client best by recognizing the weaknesses in your own positions. Not by putting your head in the sand, by ignoring those weaknesses or pretending they aren’t there.

Someday, you will have to make your case before a judge. And the judge, as an impartial arbiter, is going to zero in on the weaknesses of your case. And do the same to your opposing counsel.

There will be no escape. Your head cannot remain in the sand. If you have blindfolded yourself, you will not be ready. And you will have just lost the argument.

So, good lawyers are open to the possibility that there are weaknesses in their positions. Indeed, they search for them, they are prepared to address them, and they adjust their positions accordingly.

Ideally, lawyers and their clients might even talk with the opposing party and lawyer. Have a dialogue. Amicably present their case. Truly listen to the other side. Perhaps persuade in some respects. And be persuaded in others.

Lawsuits sometimes do require a judicial resolution.

But the truth is that most cases are best resolved by way of a settlement. An amicable resolution. A resolution that can only be attained through open and honest dialogue.

And a willingness to recognize when you might be wrong, and to adapt your positions accordingly.

We should conduct ourselves no differently in our everyday lives.

Be open to other ideas. Be willing to hear opposing viewpoints. Recognize that there may be weaknesses in our own positions or strengths in those of others.

Be willing to learn. Be willing to un-dig our heels and perhaps even change our views.

A case in point.

The world recently lost a giant. A true patriot.

A man who, over time, adapted his positions as radically as one could.

David Horowitz was born in Queens, New York in 1939.

He was the son of Phil and Blanche Horowitz. They were both high school teachers, Phil of English and Blanche of stenography. Both of their families had emigrated from Russia.

Phil and Blanche were also active members of the Communist Party of the United States of America and strong supporters of Joseph Stalin. Their lives are said to have included secret meetings, secret identities and a secret revolutionary plan. They raised David to be the Communist Party’s next great player, and his family later jokingly referred to him as the “Tiger Woods of Communism.”

As a result, young David Horowitz became steeped in Marxist philosophy. He schooled at Columbia University, and later at the University of California at Berkley. He became identified as a Marxist intellectual. He became a force on the New Left and the co-editor of the magazine Ramparts. He developed a close friendship with Huey Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party.

But, in time, Horowitz came to see the world differently.

To quote his recent obituary:

The impact of his upbringing was profound, but David's life would prove to be shaped by his own self-described irrational desire to “save the world.” While this impulse began as a highly abstract concept, David would spend a lifetime refining it, sharpening it, completely revising it and ultimately making it his life’s mission.

Over time, and with the benefit of life experience, the “Tiger Woods of Communism” came to see that…

…the pursuit of a marxist utopia was a false and unachievable goal. Diabolically, the goal created a religion. The religion then cloaked the movement’s leaders with an invincible moral standing enabling them to commit atrocities with impunity for their own gain. He was horrified that he had been part of it and it caused him to rethink his entire life. The decision was not easy. His family, friends, and career were all deeply tied to “the movement.” If he were to make this change, he would essentially need to start from scratch.

And start from scratch he did. He stepped back from political activism for a time and became a biographer and journalist. But eventually, this led him back into the arena. This time, his life-long drive to “save the world” induced him to fight the same battle, but on a different side. He began his journey from the “red-diaper baby” of communists to conservative activist, later capturing his personal saga in his 1996 autobiography, Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey.

In 1981, Horowitz and Peter Collier published Whitewash: Gay Leaders in California Have Obscured Vital Information About How the AIDS Disease Spreads. The reaction from his former comrades-in-arms was vicious and aggressive. Horowitz concluded that…

…If leaders on the left were willing to sacrifice millions of gay lives to preserve their power and orthodoxy, what wouldn’t they do? The article, the experience, and the ocean of death that followed were the final straw in David’s conversion from his Marxist roots to a leading thinker on the right. He formalized his position on March 17, 1985 when he and Peter published Lefties for Reagan in The Washington Post. David departed the left for good. The change would cost him nearly everything—all of his friends, coverage in the New York Times Book Review (essential for authors at the time), and countless lost earnings. He would have to start all over.

For the next four decades, Horowitz applied his insatiable energy to produce dozens of books, thousands of influential articles, and countless public appearances, often decrying the Left’s radicalization of America’s educational institutions. I personally recall benefiting from one of them, although the date and location presently escape me.

In 1992, Horowitz and Collier founded Heterodoxy, a monthly magazine exposing political correctness on America’s campuses. In 2004, he and others published a pamphlet, Political Bias in the Administrations and Faculties of 32 Elite Colleges and Universities. In 2006, his book The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America criticized educational indoctrination over the disinterested pursuit of knowledge, and it forecast the campus antisemitism that has now been revealed. And in 2011, Horowitz published Radical Son, describing how universities no longer present both sides of a political argument, their left-wing professors instead creating an atmosphere of political “terror” on their campuses.

Since 2003, The Horowitz Freedom Center, which he founded in 1998, has promoted “an Academic Bill of Rights to support students’ academic freedom, and free the American university from political indoctrination and renew its commitment to true intellectual diversity.”

In 2019, the Jewish Horowitz published Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America. And in 2023, he authored Final Battle: The Next Election Could Be the Last.

David Horowitz passed into eternity on April 29, 2025. His legacy will live on through the Horowitz Freedom Center. It’s continuing mission: “The Defense of Free Societies.”

Our Founding Fathers undoubtedly would be proud.

Well done, David Joel Horowitz, thou good and faithful servant. May we all learn from your legacy.

Identity Politics, with Mark Boonstra & Dr. Stephen Phinney, is an extension of IOM America’s IM Christian Writers Association. The mission of the authors is to restore faith in God & country.

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