After the election the Democratic Party (my party) must rethink many of its policies as it ponders its future.
To be entrusted with power again Democrats must start listening to the concerns of the working class for a change. As a lifelong moderate Democrat I share their disdain for many of the insane positions advocated by my party. We are no longer the patriotic, sensible party of FDR and JFK.
Democrat politicians defy biology by believing that men can actually become women and belong in women’s sports, rest rooms, locker rooms and prisons and that children should be mutilated in pursuit of the impossible.
They believe borders should be open to millions of illegals which undermines workers’ wages and the affordability of housing when we can’t house our own citizens.
They discriminate against whites, Asians and men in a futile effort to counter past discrimination against others and undermine our economy by abandoning merit selection of students and employees.
Democratic mayors allow homelessness to destroy our beautiful cities because they won't say no to destructive behavior. No, you can’t camp in our city. No, you can’t shit in our streets. No, you can’t shoot up and leave your used needles everywhere. Many of our prosecutors will not take action against shoplifting unless a $1000 of goods are stolen leading to gangs destroying retail stores. They release criminals without bail to commit more crimes.
The average voter knows this is happening and outright reject our party. Enough.
So how do you go about negotiating the boundaries of individual freedom versus community norms, standards, and rules?
Consider the visceral aversion of many (most?) liberals to "soulless suburbia" and its function as mass "baby factory" and indoctrination camp for producing the cogs of capitalism, low-brow entertainment, and ever trashier and more self-destructive consumer culture. Given the creative and artistic sensibilities, aspirations, and institutions of cultural power of David Brooks' "bourgeois bohemians (bobos)," putting the liberal genie back in the conformist bottle is a practical impossibility. Oil and water only mix (and that only temporarily) after tremendous force is applied within a confined space. Given the impossibility of employing sufficient political compulsion to captured masses, societal stratification and separation and the resultant conflict is inevitable.
This is a great question. I think the recent history of San Francisco answers it. Progressive bobos will decentralize power and give agency to every impulse and basically decriminalize everything until chaos reigns and they get hit over the head with a bottle. Then they suddenly realize that their self-restraint must be imposed on the public *with* the law, and not their own influence *despite* the law.
The result is a kind of bifurcation that we have today. Some bobos ready to join social conservatives in law and order, and others trying to become a new authoritarian mommy. (Karen). Few bobos recognize that this chaos is their own doing, because they never gave social conservatives the benefit of the doubt.
The pussy hat dancers still lack that social self-awareness. They thought their own sexuality was the most powerful thing in the world.
In the end, it comes down to The Book of Eli. Bobos in desolation will realize that religious discipline was necessary all along, but only after they suffer the consequences of the triumph of their narcissistic wills. The question is when, and whether the nation retains government by, of and for the people.
History suggests that an emperor is coming. I'm thinking that American soldiers are going to have to show us the way to avoid this. Brooks and al Gharbi have correctly identified the bobos and symbolic capitalists. Who is on the other side besides the Dwight Eienhowers? Maybe the plumbers from that episode of South Park
Thanks for the response. We've quite the mess on our hands at this point.
I'm reminded of the parable of "Chesterton's Fence" (https://fs.blog/chestertons-fence/). Why cooler heads yield to the hotter ones in making everyone leap before looking, I'll never understand. Whatever happened to the concepts of "(comparative) laboratories of democracy" and adoption of best practices only after they are proven effective? Must we constantly saddle ourselves with destructive, ineffective, and hideously expensive boondoggles such as decriminalization of anti-social behavior, early childhood education and development such as Reading First and Head Start, and the myriad other mandated schemes bound to fail devised and enforced at the local, state, and federal government levels?
Greatly enjoy your stuff, even when I differ in part (well constructed challenge is far more nourishing than lazy-making confirmation anyhow). Also consistently surprised by how often I am emotionally inclined to differ and then rationally brought back to your offered ideas - you teach well (indirectly, as you go).
I come from the left (literally grew up in a commune) and I have been trying for years to separate and clearly describe the difference between the crazy side and the genuine full hearted stuff (which I can't ever stop thinking of as 'the wobbly spirit' - much as you distinguish international (almost religious in scope) and local (self serving) variants of a whole family of socialist idealisms.
If you find yourself with a bored moment, I suspect you might get a chuckle from my most recent take on it "Because Blackness isn't either - and that's perfectly okay".
Not even a defence of the good stuff within the big mess (a whole separate subject, really) but mostly a brief history of those contrasts, and the entry of the evil stupidity factor (ego over program, reason or ethics), and it's sad rise to the state of unchallenged leftie dominance, since. (makes those of us who are trying, no less mad than it does all the entirely reasonable opponents of it, from every other side).
Cheers for what you do, man!
(been reading you for years, should have thanked you earlier)
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Here's the piece, should you find yourself with a few bored minutes sometime.
Liberal, not progressive.... 💯
After the election the Democratic Party (my party) must rethink many of its policies as it ponders its future.
To be entrusted with power again Democrats must start listening to the concerns of the working class for a change. As a lifelong moderate Democrat I share their disdain for many of the insane positions advocated by my party. We are no longer the patriotic, sensible party of FDR and JFK.
Democrat politicians defy biology by believing that men can actually become women and belong in women’s sports, rest rooms, locker rooms and prisons and that children should be mutilated in pursuit of the impossible.
They believe borders should be open to millions of illegals which undermines workers’ wages and the affordability of housing when we can’t house our own citizens.
They discriminate against whites, Asians and men in a futile effort to counter past discrimination against others and undermine our economy by abandoning merit selection of students and employees.
Democratic mayors allow homelessness to destroy our beautiful cities because they won't say no to destructive behavior. No, you can’t camp in our city. No, you can’t shit in our streets. No, you can’t shoot up and leave your used needles everywhere. Many of our prosecutors will not take action against shoplifting unless a $1000 of goods are stolen leading to gangs destroying retail stores. They release criminals without bail to commit more crimes.
The average voter knows this is happening and outright reject our party. Enough.
So how do you go about negotiating the boundaries of individual freedom versus community norms, standards, and rules?
Consider the visceral aversion of many (most?) liberals to "soulless suburbia" and its function as mass "baby factory" and indoctrination camp for producing the cogs of capitalism, low-brow entertainment, and ever trashier and more self-destructive consumer culture. Given the creative and artistic sensibilities, aspirations, and institutions of cultural power of David Brooks' "bourgeois bohemians (bobos)," putting the liberal genie back in the conformist bottle is a practical impossibility. Oil and water only mix (and that only temporarily) after tremendous force is applied within a confined space. Given the impossibility of employing sufficient political compulsion to captured masses, societal stratification and separation and the resultant conflict is inevitable.
This is a great question. I think the recent history of San Francisco answers it. Progressive bobos will decentralize power and give agency to every impulse and basically decriminalize everything until chaos reigns and they get hit over the head with a bottle. Then they suddenly realize that their self-restraint must be imposed on the public *with* the law, and not their own influence *despite* the law.
The result is a kind of bifurcation that we have today. Some bobos ready to join social conservatives in law and order, and others trying to become a new authoritarian mommy. (Karen). Few bobos recognize that this chaos is their own doing, because they never gave social conservatives the benefit of the doubt.
The pussy hat dancers still lack that social self-awareness. They thought their own sexuality was the most powerful thing in the world.
In the end, it comes down to The Book of Eli. Bobos in desolation will realize that religious discipline was necessary all along, but only after they suffer the consequences of the triumph of their narcissistic wills. The question is when, and whether the nation retains government by, of and for the people.
History suggests that an emperor is coming. I'm thinking that American soldiers are going to have to show us the way to avoid this. Brooks and al Gharbi have correctly identified the bobos and symbolic capitalists. Who is on the other side besides the Dwight Eienhowers? Maybe the plumbers from that episode of South Park
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc1_AY7mufM
Thanks for the response. We've quite the mess on our hands at this point.
I'm reminded of the parable of "Chesterton's Fence" (https://fs.blog/chestertons-fence/). Why cooler heads yield to the hotter ones in making everyone leap before looking, I'll never understand. Whatever happened to the concepts of "(comparative) laboratories of democracy" and adoption of best practices only after they are proven effective? Must we constantly saddle ourselves with destructive, ineffective, and hideously expensive boondoggles such as decriminalization of anti-social behavior, early childhood education and development such as Reading First and Head Start, and the myriad other mandated schemes bound to fail devised and enforced at the local, state, and federal government levels?
Send in the plumbers!
Thanks for this!
Greatly enjoy your stuff, even when I differ in part (well constructed challenge is far more nourishing than lazy-making confirmation anyhow). Also consistently surprised by how often I am emotionally inclined to differ and then rationally brought back to your offered ideas - you teach well (indirectly, as you go).
I come from the left (literally grew up in a commune) and I have been trying for years to separate and clearly describe the difference between the crazy side and the genuine full hearted stuff (which I can't ever stop thinking of as 'the wobbly spirit' - much as you distinguish international (almost religious in scope) and local (self serving) variants of a whole family of socialist idealisms.
If you find yourself with a bored moment, I suspect you might get a chuckle from my most recent take on it "Because Blackness isn't either - and that's perfectly okay".
Not even a defence of the good stuff within the big mess (a whole separate subject, really) but mostly a brief history of those contrasts, and the entry of the evil stupidity factor (ego over program, reason or ethics), and it's sad rise to the state of unchallenged leftie dominance, since. (makes those of us who are trying, no less mad than it does all the entirely reasonable opponents of it, from every other side).
Cheers for what you do, man!
(been reading you for years, should have thanked you earlier)
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Here's the piece, should you find yourself with a few bored minutes sometime.
https://paulsnyders.substack.com/p/because-blackness-isnt-either-and