The idea of the Universal Theory is very illustrative - I see it as a sort of leftwing, post-Marx amalgam of class theory and an overreliance on power relationships as descriptive of social structure. It's intellectual shorthand, easy to understand, pretty much predigested and when seasoned with a little good old-fashioned envy and hatred, very tasty to minds more attracted to certainty than truth.
The peace rallies of last Saturday are a good example of what the left has devolved into - internationally they were broadly anti-American, in the U.S. they were broadly anti-Bush. Iraq was almost irrelevant.
You, sir, write good.