Bouncing A Word
"Meet the New Elite", David Ignatius' latest column at the Washington Post is the latest attempt to turn a word on it's users.
The right has been calling the left's thinkers the "liberal elite" for years. You know them, the Ivy League rich folks who feel bad about the fact that they are Ivy League rich folks.
Now Mr. I has decided that based on the Roberts and Alito nominations the right is becoming the new "elite".
There's a problem with his turn, though. The major difference between the elite on the two sides is that one is apologetic of their success, at least in public when speaking to reporters, and the others tout it, as they should.
The left's liberal elite give great lip service to helping those who have less than them. I say lip service because behind the media facade, they invest in evil corporations, use offshore accounts to avoid taxes, and have hired help doing their dirty work, just like the right.
The rights elite, on the other hand don't apologize for their successes, they point to them, showing what hard work and determination can do for someone. They aren't embarassed because they got ahead in life. That's the biggest difference between the two. Liberals can't understand why everyone can't have everything, conservatives can't understand why everyone won't work harder to get it.
The best line from Ignatius' column has to be:
"But when you look at the people he has nominated for key posts, it's the GOP nomenklatura . This particular group is lopsidedly white and male and, like most collections of meritocrats, too little shaped by the hardscrabble America that politicians like to celebrate."
This is different from the Left's leadership how? Kennedy, Shumer, Reid, Kerry, Edwards, are of the same mold. Both sides have a few that don't fit the mold because of gender or race, but really, politics is still for the most part the 'good ol' (white) boys club'.
He is correct in assessing that the right has become the "intellectual elite" equal of the left, his overall assessment is off though, because right isn't going to instute policies to apologize for it.
The right has been calling the left's thinkers the "liberal elite" for years. You know them, the Ivy League rich folks who feel bad about the fact that they are Ivy League rich folks.
Now Mr. I has decided that based on the Roberts and Alito nominations the right is becoming the new "elite".
There's a problem with his turn, though. The major difference between the elite on the two sides is that one is apologetic of their success, at least in public when speaking to reporters, and the others tout it, as they should.
The left's liberal elite give great lip service to helping those who have less than them. I say lip service because behind the media facade, they invest in evil corporations, use offshore accounts to avoid taxes, and have hired help doing their dirty work, just like the right.
The rights elite, on the other hand don't apologize for their successes, they point to them, showing what hard work and determination can do for someone. They aren't embarassed because they got ahead in life. That's the biggest difference between the two. Liberals can't understand why everyone can't have everything, conservatives can't understand why everyone won't work harder to get it.
The best line from Ignatius' column has to be:
"But when you look at the people he has nominated for key posts, it's the GOP nomenklatura . This particular group is lopsidedly white and male and, like most collections of meritocrats, too little shaped by the hardscrabble America that politicians like to celebrate."
This is different from the Left's leadership how? Kennedy, Shumer, Reid, Kerry, Edwards, are of the same mold. Both sides have a few that don't fit the mold because of gender or race, but really, politics is still for the most part the 'good ol' (white) boys club'.
He is correct in assessing that the right has become the "intellectual elite" equal of the left, his overall assessment is off though, because right isn't going to instute policies to apologize for it.
posted by Crazy Politico at 7:06 AM
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