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In my earlier post I concluded by writing: Surprise me, Massachusetts voters, with a new showdown at a rude bridge. I was surprised indeed. After years in the Kennedy wilderness, it would appear there has been a homecoming.
I also wrote that, in the then unlikely event of a Brown victory, ...we will have another big-government Republican in congress, and, on balance that is a moderately good thing. And I believe it is.
How conservative is Scott Brown? We can't be sure. Ed Morrissey offers some caveats in this article.
But the senator-elect has taken a firm stand on opposing the destruction of American healthcare, he is a fiscal conservative and is strong (not at variance with George Bush) on national defense. In fact, on almost all issues dear to conservatives, he has consistently spoken as man of principle. Given his stated positions, it is truly amazing that he could have been elected in Massachusetts. Perhaps the best thing about Scott Brown's victory is the apparent indication that voters are finally perceiving the extent to which the left has overreached.
Above I characterized Brown as a big government Republican; I hope to be proven as wrong about that as I was in estimating the likelihood of his election.
In the aftermath of terrorist attacks -- failed or successful -- post-mortem analyses typically reveal that necessary intelligence was in hand but not integrated in ways to prevent disaster. One thinks of 911, of course, but also of Mumbai and more recently Fort Hood and the Christmas flight to Detroit. But the broader anti-terrorist methodology and especially the seriousness of governments must also be called into question.
In the US airport screening, for example, seems focused on preventing what has already happened, relying on what passengers may be carrying rather than who they are and how they answer probing questions. Widely reported is the successful approach used by the El Al Airlines, and it is worthwhile to contrast the assumptions of the American and Israeli political classes that drive security systems.
How to protect ourselves from the violence of Jihadi savages? Let me begin by asserting that in matters of security, the trope-imagery of "connecting the dots" is a poor one in context. Assembling a jigsaw puzzle might be better, but it too is misleading. If there is anything to be connected to good effect, it may be the negative assumptions of decision-makers -- reality negated in aid of a political ideology and underpinned by political correctness. So we begin by connecting the nots of denial.
Connecting the nots shows us why we are not secure from terrorist attacks. Unlike our own political class, Israelis clearly understand that seeing the world-as-it-is is a necessary condition of survival.
There comes a time, we may imagine, when even the most neglectful parents, unable to abide the unpleasantness of baby's soiled nappies, are finally moved to change them. In the same way, the left is periodically moved to change its name.
During the early years of the last century (and the latter part of the one preceding) the American left referred to themselves as "Progressives". The end of the 'progressive era' came with a wave of popular resentment following a train of political excesses beginning with T.R. and culminating in the Woodrow Wilson administration. The progressive label had become tarnished.
It was then necessary to embrace a new name behind which to conceal discredited political ideas. The left became the "liberal" party. With a risible irony, that name was co-opted from Enlightenment thinkers of the 19th Century most closely associated with today's American conservatives. (1)
When John Kennedy came to the presidency liberalism was poised to enjoy a period of popular support which was to endure until the early part of the Carter administration. With the election of Ronald Reagan the failed policies of the left, from Roosevelt-the-first -- but especially in the public mind -- from Hoover onward came into sharp focus. Liberalism had lost its luster. What to do?
Counting on a failed system of public education and a short public memory, the contemporary left has reverted to calling themselves "progressives" once again. Under whatever name, the left retains certain traits: elitism associated with a desire to control the lives and activities of others, a "religious faith" (unassailable by fact) in the possibility of attaining a Utopian state of human perfection and a failure to reconcile their actions (always motivated by good intentions) with maladaptive and destructive outcomes. Finally, they place blame for the world's ills -- falsely -- on the right wing. That hated straw-man is often a creature of leftist extremes.
To avoid being identified (publicly or in their own minds) with their soul-mates -- Bolsheviks, (especially) fascists and other virulent strains of socialism and anarchy -- they follow the lead of early soviet leaders to characterize them as right-wing. (2) In this, with the aid of the left in academe, media and entertainment, they were remarkably successful.
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1 Adam Smith, John Locke and Montesquieu come to mind.
2 Frustrated that Germany and Italy had chosen national socialism over their own devoutly sought world socialism, they characterized those countries as being on the right. Fascism in Italy, Germany -- and to some extent in the US -- was a structural methodology of national socialism.
I don't ordinarily comment on political contests, but in this case I will. There is much hopey optimism among Republicans and some conservatives that Scott Brown will overcome his Democratic opponent, Martha Coakley. If it happens, we will have another big-government Republican in congress, and, on balance that is a moderately good thing.
At best, a Brown victory may be indicative of a trend toward shrinking the liberal majority. Still, given the shameless tolerance for corrupt liberalism chronically demonstrated by Massachusetts voters, I will be surprised if it comes to pass. A state that repeatedly elected a thoroughly feckless and corrupt* Edward Kennedy to office until, by reason of death he was no longer eligible, can scarcely be expected to exercise the judgment required to abandon a proud history of pernicious liberalism.
Surprise me, Massachusetts voters, with a new showdown at a rude bridge.
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Coming to mind are the Mary Jo Kopechne affair, The "Big Dig" shakedown, government healthcare and the senator's affection for all things socialist.
Much is revealed about our adolescent ruling class by its use of language. Many of their phrases point to a grossly inflated sense of power and competence; the former may exist insofar as it is vested in government, but the latter is notably absent. They suggest the sense of omnipotence felt, perhaps, by a video-gamer able to conquer the hazards of his virtual environment with a joystick.
Reset button Here we have a term that might be used by someone who is confident in his ability to restore the function of a balky electrical appliance. The notion that complex international relationships, freighted with years of mutual antagonisms can be turned around with a simple, mechanical gesture. Forget the past...
Bending the cost curve This, perhaps greatest, oversimplification conjures another simple, manual exercise capable of changing the economy.
Bottom-up economy A mantra of candidate Obama. What can it possibly mean...?
Pivot Obama looks to a hard pivot on Iran. A foreign policy danse macabre?
The educated classes Elitist self-caricature. Who, we may ask, are the persons not included in the educated classes? Certainly George Bush, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh. By usage the meaning is clear enough; the speaker or writer is referring to classes not educated "like me". The candid translation is "anointed".
A recent, short article by David Brooks -- NYT's token pseudo-conservative -- has deservedly drawn considerable fire, mostly but not exclusively from the right. Brooks uses the phrase as a foil to the tea-party movement -- presumably ignorant, recalcitrant folks who disagree with the educated classes on matters such as global warming, abortion and gun control. But the writer earns high marks for one succinct and accurate observation (one, by implication, he laments):
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.
In his unfinished Metamorphosis, Kafka's protagonist, Gregor Samsa, awakens to find himself transformed into a vermin (cockroach). To Samsa's credit I would point out two things: he did not transform himself, and he had the wit and grace to despise what he had become.
Our congress, on the other hand, is a different matter. They have transformed themselves, and they regard their present incarnation as superior to their former status. About cockroaches Wikipedia tells us that "The insect[s] can travel quickly, often darting out of sight when someone enters a room..." Nocturnal creatures they scurry for cover of darkness when lights come on.
Figuratively sequestered in darkness our Democrat representatives conspire, behind locked doors and out of public view, to impose their will on a human polity that is clearly opposed to their schemes.
Rasmussen describes the general disconnect between congress and the public when he tells us that "Only 32% of voters are even somewhat confident that their representatives in Congress are actually representing their best interests. That figure includes just eight percent (8%) who are very confident of that fact. " A sampling of specific issues polled is revealing: healthcare, drilling for oil and climate change legislation -- all opposed by the majority of voters -- are the very issues congress is determined to force on the public.
I conclude with apologies to natural-born cockroaches, God's creatures all. If any remain of the Archy sort*, I'm sure to get flaming comments and emails. I will know them by their use of lower case.
*__________
Probably forgotten or never known to most readers, the reference is to the Archy and Mehetabel series.
