Isn't the phrase "the right side of history" merely a cliché that functions as an attempt to forestall debate on political issues?

Very astute! It's no more than a marginally more socially acceptable parapharing of Nakita Khruschev's, "We will bury you," and we all know how accurate that turned out to be.

Invective, patitudes, and slogans are the refuge of the logically incompetent.

While it is kind of like saying "God is on our side" (which every side says), it is a fact that the winner(s) get to write the history books.

As for politics at the time, politics be damned, it means nothing. What matters is who wins. Right or wrong, more freedom or more slavery, the winners decide what a chiche' is because they define the past in terms of the present they have created.

To illustrate this point, i offer you The Kinks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuGFlP5Duuw

"....but there's no England any more...."

I'll tell you what the right side of history will be. In 50 years Western Europe will be Muslim and America will be speaking Spanish. Suburbia will atrophy due to increased transportation costs and downsizing of ability to pay for real estate, suburbia will be bulldozed to make way for green belts (truck gardens) around cities. Most people will move downtown and some will go rural.

Suburbia was a dream, from the end of WW2 and it is fading, inhabited mostly by retired folks and trophy wives. It is unsustainable. Makes no sense to ship fresh produce thousands of miles when it can be grown locally. Welcome to the greenhouse, solar powered. Invest in new battery tech.

So what's the right side of history? The answer is "whatever works". Islam has a higher birth rate than Western Democracies so in the end it will win. The jobs and money are in the cities so that's where people will go. Transportation will become increasingly expensive while the ability for governments to afford to build freeways and parking lots will diminish.

Suburbia was not on the right side of history. Bummer, it was a grand dream which served several generations well.

Paul Harvey was right:

"It is not one world"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8v4TZDzYt4

All that phrase means is we will have to wait a few years or decades in order to retroactively judge whether something was good or not. You cant possibly know the answer in the moment an event is taking place because its consequences have not happened yet.

History is something we should use to our advantage.example you leave for work at a certain time everyday and if you leave later you will be late to work.