Mike Elk takes "liberal elitism" to task for not taking the Tea Party people seriously, and that that will lead to the election of Sarah Palin and other such ilk.
To quote our vice president, malarkey.
While I have long argued that there is too much elitism on the left for my tastes, there's a wide gulf between holding your nose in the air for no good reason and dumbing yourself down in order to appeal to the lowest common idiotic denominator. Such is the case with the Tea Party group and their leaders like Palin.
Far from the liberals in the '70s who were clearly not responsive enough to the middle class, leading to the rise of Nixon and resentment politics, today's left has gone to great lengths to be a big tent. So much so that some of our biggest fault lines are internal and don't involve the Republicans at all. But far from the pre-Clinton great society types, today's liberals understand that without blue collar people on our side we don't advance as a movement.
The problem is that the vast majority of the issues brought up by the tea party types and Palin are idiotic. These aren't people with the traditional lower-middle class concerns of Americans (which is my family background) but instead these are people who largely believe the conspiracy du jour, whether that involves secret armies, the president's "true" nationality, or Nancy Pelosi's "death panels" that are set up to pull the plug on Grandma.
While the concerns of many white, middle-class people are worthy causes and should be addressed by liberals (and are), it is not elitism to treat this roving band of conspiracy nuts for the cretins they are or associate with. This would be akin to President Johnson in 1964 undertaking a federal committee to study the mind control powers of fluoridated water. That would be asinine.
Liberals have in the past allowed the ivory tower set to exert too much control over the Democratic party. That resulted in a narrow focus and deserved electoral losses. But the idea that the tea party movement represents any sort of rational discourse deserving of recognition and outreach is absurd. These are, by and large, the same band of stupid people we have always had in this country, whether they were in favor of submission to the British empire, secession from the union, alliance with Hitler, or decrying the president a "half breed Muslim terrorist", we owe them no recognition or inclusion in the important discussion about the direction of American society.
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Huff TV: Ryan Grim Talks Palin's 'Holier Than Thou' Tea Party Tone (VIDEO)
HuffPost's Senior Congressional Correspondent Ryan Grim appeared on MSNBC Monday to weigh in on Sarah Palin's recent "tea party" remarks. Palin appeared at the group's...
of my life living in Swindon. It's a mid size city in the UK. It was a wonderful
experience but I returned to my hometown in Connecticut & here I remain.
I love my country & believe it or not I'm a liberal democrat who enlisted
an went to Korea where fun was not in the dictionary. I'm no hero for sure
but I did receive a purple heart & it was earned. I treasure this common medal.
This said, I disagree with the tea baggers because they seem to think hey
cornered the market on patriotism in America. Well it's not close to the truth.
Be proud of your country but don't have the idea that because you have a
certain political opinion everyone that disagrees with you is in that old "love
it or leave it category." When I see a tea bag person with a sign depicting
president Obama as Hitler then I know holding it is a fool & a disgrace
to his country. Just a personal opinion. First amendment, you know. :-)
Medicare. I want my America back. :-)
All during the Bush yrs we were told by talk radio and fox that if you disagree with Bush/Cheney you were unpatriotic and sided with the terrorists.
When a Democrat is in the oval office (Clinton, Obama) then it is patriotic to attack, smear and disagree with Government. Notice they make the rules and always use patriotism. Since they have monopolized talk radio stations they can repeat and repeat their points all day every day.
Basically If the Prez is an R...Obey and protect him
If he is a D attack and get rid of him Does anyone see a problem with this???
(And he makes great movies, too!)
"...the traditional lower-middle class concerns of Americans..."
The post he is supposedly responding to was about working class people. The poster apparently can't even bring himself to write the words working class let alone think their point of view might be worth considering.
You'll find the piece is thoughtful and on spot. I re-read it just to see what in the h*** you were talking about.
Thanks for playing.
However... perception is reality for many, and we've never had this political dynamic along with a large propaganda arm masquerading as news... We should not rely on lessons of the past to fully inform us of the future.
www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
It is the site of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights......
Take the country back from what? From whom? What would that look like, a visit to Mayberry? The tragic fact is that these are ignorant people, who can make no sense of the modern world. They tend to be religious, which seems to cripple their analytical ability. Some are true believers of the right wing dogma machine, drawn to the incoherent rants of Glenn Beck by his projection of their emotional turmoil. They rail against a diverse, multi-cultural America. At the end of the day, however, one must ask, "What exactly do they want?" Notwithstanding Bush's near destruction of our economy there is nothing in modern life that's all that scary. Sadly, tThey represent the political manipulation of hysteria for its own sake.
As adults, they are unable to follow the science and math necessary to comprehend economics - so they are prey for any popular pundit who will tell them that the current situation is the fault of the current administration, despite evidence to the contrary.
They never learned history beyond the simplistic narratives taught in high school - now they will support any candidate who spouts catch-phrases about "founding fathers".
They fell asleep in biology class - now they fall for any junk science related to health care that supports their mistrust of those better educated than themselves - for surely, doctors, nurse-practitioners, and physician assistants are the ultimate "elitists". Not to mention their uncritical parroting of creationist dogma.
This segment of the population has been ripe for the picking by any opportunists who can play on their fears and mistrust of what they can't comprehend. Some of those opportunists - such as Beck - have found a lucrative audience and feed them whatever will get them to continue to tune in. Others, like Mrs. Palin, are, appallingly, sincere in their sharing of the soi-disant "real Americans'" aversion to education.