America's dancing patriots, the Tea Partiershttp://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2009/09/tea-party-patriots-cheer-congr.html
The public is not only shifting from left to right. Every single idea associated with the educated class has grown more unpopular over the past year.
-- David Brooks, "The Tea Party Teens"
I'm listening to David Brooks. I was during the 2012 campaign, and these days, I'm listening maybe more than ever. Brooks and Rachel Maddow, and Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews and Jon Stewart, too. But today, David Brooks has my attention. Here's what he had to say in his column yesterday in the New York Times.
Personally, I think we'd be wise to listen and not go on about how American is a democracy based on humanist principals and Enlightenment philosophy. America has another, parallel and conflicting history that we ignore at our own peril. It might be about to own us, just when we thought our own party was starting when Barack Hussein Obama was elected by a heavy margin of victory and inaugurated a year ago.
-- David Brooks, "The Tea Party Teens"
I'm listening to David Brooks. I was during the 2012 campaign, and these days, I'm listening maybe more than ever. Brooks and Rachel Maddow, and Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews and Jon Stewart, too. But today, David Brooks has my attention. Here's what he had to say in his column yesterday in the New York Times.
Personally, I think we'd be wise to listen and not go on about how American is a democracy based on humanist principals and Enlightenment philosophy. America has another, parallel and conflicting history that we ignore at our own peril. It might be about to own us, just when we thought our own party was starting when Barack Hussein Obama was elected by a heavy margin of victory and inaugurated a year ago.
The United States opens this decade in a sour mood. First, Americans are anxious about the future. Sixty-one percent of Americans believe the country is in decline, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey. Only 27 percent feel confident that their children’s generation will be better off than they are.
Second, Americans have lost faith in their institutions. During the great moments of social reform, at least 60 percent of Americans trusted government to do the right thing most of the time. Now, only a quarter have that kind of trust.
The country is evenly divided about President Obama, but state governments are in disrepute and confidence in Congress is at withering lows. As Frank Newport of the Gallup organization noted in his year-end wrap-up, “Americans have less faith in their elected representatives than ever before.”
Third, the new administration has not galvanized a popular majority. In almost every sphere of public opinion, Americans are moving away from the administration, not toward it. The Ipsos/McClatchy organizations have been asking voters which party can do the best job of handling a range of 13 different issues. During the first year of the Obama administration, the Republicans gained ground on all 13.
The public is not only shifting from left to right. Every single idea associated with the educated class has grown more unpopular over the past year.
The educated class believes in global warming, so public skepticism about global warming is on the rise. The educated class supports abortion rights, so public opinion is shifting against them. The educated class supports gun control, so opposition to gun control is mounting.
The story is the same in foreign affairs. The educated class is internationalist, so isolationist sentiment is now at an all-time high, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The educated class believes in multilateral action, so the number of Americans who believe we should “go our own way” has risen sharply.
A year ago, the Obama supporters were the passionate ones. Now the tea party brigades have all the intensity.
The tea party movement is a large, fractious confederation of Americans who are defined by what they are against. They are against the concentrated power of the educated class. They believe big government, big business, big media and the affluent professionals are merging to form self-serving oligarchy — with bloated government, unsustainable deficits, high taxes and intrusive regulation.
The tea party movement is mostly famous for its flamboyant fringe. But it is now more popular than either major party. According to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 41 percent of Americans have a positive view of the tea party movement. Only 35 percent of Americans have a positive view of the Democrats and only 28 percent have a positive view of the Republican Party.
The movement is especially popular among independents. The Rasmussen organization asked independent voters whom they would support in a generic election between a Democrat, a Republican and a tea party candidate. The tea party candidate won, with 33 percent of independents. Undecided came in second with 30 percent. The Democrats came in third with 25 percent and the Republicans fourth with 12 percent.
Over the course of this year, the tea party movement will probably be transformed. Right now, it is an amateurish movement with mediocre leadership. But several bright and polished politicians, like Marco Rubio of Florida and Gary Johnson of New Mexico, are unofficially competing to become its de facto leader. If they succeed, their movement is likely to outgrow its crude beginnings and become a major force in American politics. After all, it represents arguments that are deeply rooted in American history.
The Obama administration is premised on the conviction that pragmatic federal leaders with professional expertise should have the power to implement programs to solve the country’s problems. Many Americans do not have faith in that sort of centralized expertise or in the political class generally.
Moreover, the tea party movement has passion. Think back on the recent decades of American history — the way the hippies defined the 1960s; the feminists, the 1970s; the Christian conservatives, the 1980s. American history is often driven by passionate outsiders who force themselves into the center of American life.
In the near term, the tea party tendency will dominate the Republican Party. It could be the ruin of the party, pulling it in an angry direction that suburban voters will not tolerate. But don’t underestimate the deep reservoirs of public disgust. If there is a double-dip recession, a long period of stagnation, a fiscal crisis, a terrorist attack or some other major scandal or event, the country could demand total change, creating a vacuum that only the tea party movement and its inheritors would be in a position to fill.
Personally, I’m not a fan of this movement. But I can certainly see its potential to shape the coming decade.
Let's watch Countdown's Chris Matthews with Democratic strategist Chris Kofinas, too, as they talk about the Tea Partier's holiday season "Die-in" on Capitol Hill, making merry with Republican lawmakers.
And, at a resplendent and elegant Paris New Year's Eve dinner, over oysters from Brittany, langoustines and foie gras, as the champagne, wine and conversation flowed, I debated politics politely (Rhetorical question of the day: Is it possible to ever debate politics politely? In other words, can politics ever be considered polite conversation?) with a Dutch gentleman, married to an American from a well-healed, Pelham, NY Republican family, who graduated Harvard, and who remained silent throughout the exquisite, companionable dinner. At one point in our typical conversation for an American meeting an European at a dinner party, he started in with the age-old "I'm ashamed to be an European" thing (yes, he did say it); he was sincere. He was building up a head of steam, but I cut him off.
"There is no reason for this now. We are past the days of the Marshall Plan, Europe is off its knees and leading, and it well ought to be with 750 million citizens. Look at Denmark, leading the world in environmental regulations and innovations that have given it a world-class financial edge. And do not talk to me about the emergence of China; they do not feel the slightest need to concern themselves with their people. We do, and we must take them, too, into account as we shape our societies, our businesses and our economies. For this, Europe represents a set of social and economic values and government and business practices that produce real gains and successes, and Europe can show the world the way forward." In short, that was then, this is now. He listened, and then he leaned close to me and said,
"You know, I agree with you. A couple of years ago," and here, he glanced nearly imperceptibly towards his wife, seated across the table from him, who I was not sure was appreciating me as much as our hostess had hoped she would, before continuing, "I would have disagreed with you, but now I don't."
Happy New Year.
No, Americans won't like it, but they have every interest in taking a long look around them. Only they won't, as surely as I am sitting here, my feet turning to blocks of ice in my Wellies, writing this.
You've all got your work cut out for you, but I'm sure that Obama and all his voters are up to it. You'd best be, or soon the Tea Partiers will be dancing up the Capitol steps to their offices.
I hear Chris Dodd's is up for grabs.
....
And, at a resplendent and elegant Paris New Year's Eve dinner, over oysters from Brittany, langoustines and foie gras, as the champagne, wine and conversation flowed, I debated politics politely (Rhetorical question of the day: Is it possible to ever debate politics politely? In other words, can politics ever be considered polite conversation?) with a Dutch gentleman, married to an American from a well-healed, Pelham, NY Republican family, who graduated Harvard, and who remained silent throughout the exquisite, companionable dinner. At one point in our typical conversation for an American meeting an European at a dinner party, he started in with the age-old "I'm ashamed to be an European" thing (yes, he did say it); he was sincere. He was building up a head of steam, but I cut him off.
"There is no reason for this now. We are past the days of the Marshall Plan, Europe is off its knees and leading, and it well ought to be with 750 million citizens. Look at Denmark, leading the world in environmental regulations and innovations that have given it a world-class financial edge. And do not talk to me about the emergence of China; they do not feel the slightest need to concern themselves with their people. We do, and we must take them, too, into account as we shape our societies, our businesses and our economies. For this, Europe represents a set of social and economic values and government and business practices that produce real gains and successes, and Europe can show the world the way forward." In short, that was then, this is now. He listened, and then he leaned close to me and said,
"You know, I agree with you. A couple of years ago," and here, he glanced nearly imperceptibly towards his wife, seated across the table from him, who I was not sure was appreciating me as much as our hostess had hoped she would, before continuing, "I would have disagreed with you, but now I don't."
Happy New Year.
No, Americans won't like it, but they have every interest in taking a long look around them. Only they won't, as surely as I am sitting here, my feet turning to blocks of ice in my Wellies, writing this.
You've all got your work cut out for you, but I'm sure that Obama and all his voters are up to it. You'd best be, or soon the Tea Partiers will be dancing up the Capitol steps to their offices.
I hear Chris Dodd's is up for grabs.
....
Articles
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire