"That sense of inevitable victory over the forces of old and evil"

[From Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas]

There was madness in any direction, at any hour -- you could strike sparks anywhere.  There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.  And that, I think, was the handle -- that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of old and evil.  Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that.  Our energy would simply prevail.  We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look west, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high water mark -- that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.

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Sometimes I imagine this is how all the heterodox bishops felt when they heard Ratzinger was elected Pope.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Criterion Collection