Sunday, March 27, 2016

Rod Dreher: "Cheer Up, Conservatives"

This is a moment for honesty. Valuably, Trump has exposed the rottenness of the consultant culture, and the squirrelly way politicians now talk to us. This is a moment for revived American nationalism. Trump’s closed, ethnic nationalism is dominant because Iraq, globalization and broken immigration policies have discredited the expansive open form of nationalism that usually dominates American culture.
And:
This is also a moment for sociology. Reaganism was very economic, built around tax policies, enterprise zones and the conception of the human being as a rational, utility-driven individual. The Adam Smith necktie was the emblem of that movement.
It might be time to invest in Émile Durkheim neckties, because today’s problems relate to binding a fragmenting society, reweaving family and social connections, relating across the diversity of a globalized world. Homo economicus is a myth and conservatism needs a worldview that is accurate about human nature.
Read the whole thing.  Brooks says that nobody knows what the next GOP will look like, but “it’s exciting to be present at the creation.” I agree. It’s about the only good news to come out of this wretched campaign: knowing that the old model is finally smashed, and the way forward is open for new ways of thinking on the Right. (more)

h/t Michael Haz

Who is Émile Durkheim?

62 comments:

AllenS said...

Wow, that was a good read.

Michael Haz said...

This quote from the article explains why I will vote for the Republican nominee, whoever that will be, even if I loathe that person to the depth of my soul. And it alludes to the reasons why the current campaign divisiveness - the intertribal warfare being played out in the media - is the pettiness of children arguing in the sandbox while not seeing that the sand is nearly all gone.

"I am a social and religious conservative who cannot be a libertarian on principle, because I am a conservative. Yet I find that I have to be a libertarian for pragmatic reasons, because I want my little platoon left alone by the government. And I am an embittered ex-Republican who is trying to bring himself around to realizing that as awful as the GOP is, they, and their judicial appointments, are the only thing standing between my little platoon and some pretty unfortunate outcomes. So yeah, I’ll take good cheer where I can find it."

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Shorter David Brooks: I'm so happy Trump will be the nominee - because Hillary.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"But Trump has no actual ideas or policies. There is no army of Trumpists out there to carry on his legacy. He will almost certainly go down to a devastating defeat, either in the general election or — God help us — as the worst president in American history.

At that point the G.O.P. will enter what Kuhn called the revolution phase."


Also called: 'We had this amazing opportunity to beat Hillary, the most corrupt pol to ever seek the presidency, but we blew it. Revolution from these people? No way - It's called wilderness-- for the next 20+ years.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Hillary and Trump are two sides of the same coin. Choice A and choice B will both remove my freedoms, tax the hell out of me, act like totalitarian dictators and do it for their own glory while America dies.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

on that note:

Happy Easter!

I'm Full of Soup said...

"Trump's closed, ethnic nationalism" ? So I guess he is still sayimh Trump and his supporters are racists huh. So screw David Brooks- he has not had an original thought or idea in forever.

Happy Easters Lemsters!

Meade said...

Third parties have rarely posed much of a threat to the dominant two parties in America. So how did the People’s Party win the U.S. presidency and a majority of both houses of Congress in 2020?

It started four years before, with the election of 2016.

As you remember, Donald Trump didn’t have enough delegates to become the Republican candidate, so the GOP convention that summer was “brokered” – which meant the Party establishment took control, and nominated the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.
Trump tried to incite riots but his “I deserve to be president because I’m the best person in the world!” speech incited universal scorn instead, and he slunk off the national stage (his last words, shouted as he got into his stretch limousine, were “Fu*ck you, America!”)
On the Democratic side, despite a large surge of votes for Bernie Sanders in the final months of the primaries, Hillary Clinton’s stable of wealthy donors and superdelegates put her over the top.
Both Republican and Democratic political establishments breathed palpable sighs of relief, and congratulated themselves on remaining in control of the nation’s politics.
(source)

I'm Full of Soup said...

Robert Reich is just another socialist moron like Bernie.

virgil xenophon said...

Who is Emile Durkheim?

The French sociologist who invented/coined the concept of "anomie".

virgil xenophon said...

Sorry, didn't bother to click on the link..

AllenS said...

WTF, Meade? Someone looking into their crystal ball is not worth commenting on.

ricpic said...

"Trump's closed ethnic nationalism..."

THE DREADED WHITES!

Meade said...

I just thought you might enjoy the part that goes: Trump tried to incite riots but his “I deserve to be president because I’m the best person in the world!” speech incited universal scorn instead, and he slunk off the national stage (his last words, shouted as he got into his stretch limousine, were “Fu*ck you, America!”)

Happy Easter and compare/contrast Jesus with Bernie.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Happy Easter April.

AllenS said...

Why would I comment on something that didn't happen?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

A University asked renowned Charles Murray to speak. The president of the University blasted the invitation to which Charles Murray responded defending his work.

Here is an excerpt of his open letter to the university president defending his work...

Our thesis was that over the last half of the 20th century, American society has become cognitively stratified. At the beginning of the penultimate chapter, Herrnstein and I summarized our message:

Predicting the course of society is chancy, but certain tendencies seem strong enough to worry about:

An increasingly isolated cognitive elite.

A merging of the cognitive elite with the affluent.

A deteriorating quality of life for people at the bottom end of the cognitive distribution.

Unchecked, these trends will lead the U.S. toward something resembling a caste society, with the underclass mired ever more firmly at the bottom and the cognitive elite ever more firmly anchored at the top, restructuring the rules of society so that it becomes harder and harder for them to lose. [p. 509].


It is obvious that these conclusions have not been discredited in the twenty-two years since they were written. They may be more accurately described as prescient.

Meade said...

https://youtu.be/02Y0LGw2CZY

deborah said...

April, Cruz cannot beat Hillary. And I can see Cruz blossoming nicely into a totalitarian dictator, big time. It's like we're heading in the direction of emperors, a la Rome. Which is an expected outcome of Democracies or Republics, I would guess.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Trump, and to some extent Bernie, represent a protest of those people fixing the enterprise so that they never have to chance anything based on the rules that apply to everybody else, ever since the rules were started to be written with fairness in mind.

deborah said...

IIRC Durkheim worked with Horkheimer on the concept of Mass Culture; capitalism yields a false consciousess: gotta have those sneakers, keeping up with the Joneses, etc.

deborah said...

Anyone know if it is possible for Sanders to beat Hillary, even factoring in superdelegates?

I'm Full of Soup said...

Hillary is the most likely candidate to be dictatorial. Hell, Chelsea is already promising her "Mom" will use executive orders to "fix" Obamacare so illegals get coverage and deductibles etc are lower.

Meade said...

Executive orders do not a dictator make.

AllenS said...

Yes, deborah, if she dies from a heart attack or a plane crash. Getting indicted won't do it. Besides, the DNC would then pick someone else, maybe Biden to take her place. They will not let this Socialist win.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Illegal exec orders do.

ricpic said...

Lem's comment at 10:31 is literally incomprehensible to me and on top of that assumes we all agree on what constitutes "fairness."

Bernie's supporters are overwhelmingly very young very naive voters who are easily conned by the socialist lie.

Trump's supporters are overwhelmingly the dreaded white middle and working class, the only race and classes in America that can be and are discriminated against with impunity. I guess for Lem fairness consists in Trump's supporters accepting that state of affairs. Who knows?...even celebrating it.

deborah said...

I heard that about Chelsea lol. Bold pandering.

It depends on your dictatorial preference, I guess.

I think we need to consider the candidates based on their 'humanity.' I have read that Trump was a really nice guy in college. That way when decisions are made on the fly, there is some hope of the president acting on the right instincts.

Trump was born into wealth, Hillary, middle class, Cruz, middle class. So does this mean that perhaps Trump won't go in with a chip on his shoulder about money? Or that Hillary retains some fundamental indoctrination of good citizenship/good American?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Cruz, at least, is not a tabloid weirdo. He may not be able to beat Hillary, agreed. Trump may not be able to beat Hillary. Trump club grows smaller everyday based on Trump's bullying, yammering nonsense, desperate tabloid behavior and lies.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Happy Easter Lem.

Meade said...

Bernie can beat Hillary.

deborah said...

April, if the tabloid stuff is false, it very well may be the beginning of the end for him. On the other hand, just about anything goes in politics. If the Cruz stories are false, it still may be enough to influence enough low info voters. Welcome to the real world. And I am not condoning this or endorsing Trump.

I still think there's a fair chance they're true. Trump's spokeswoman did work under Cruz. I thought Amanda Carpenter's denial sounded iffy.

Dad Bones said...

Trump is loveless. There is no room for reciprocity and love in his worldview....It is as if he was a person who received no love and tried to compensate through competition....Somehow the Republican Party will have to rediscover a language of loving thy neighbor....

I don't know if it's love but Trump's got the language.

deborah said...

Allen, I'm just saying there are a lot of states to go. I have only been following the Republican numbers...need to do research. Of course the Dem Machine will be registering dead people to vote, etc.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Here's the actual run-down of what happened. Trump is a liar.

deborah said...

DB, thanks, I'm convinced :)

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Trump gives aid and comfort to the pro-democrat hack media. He aids in their lies.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

If it is Cruz as the nominee I will not vote for him. Period. He is a nasty hypocrite.

If Hillary gets in....then we deserve the destruction that is coming. In fact, it might as well come sooner than later. Get it over with and be resurrected and reborn as a country or go down the shitter faster. The latter choice is where we are headed now. Down the hole.

If the destruction is a long drawn out process as it has been so far, the little froggies in the gradually heating water don't recognize what is/has been happening. I'm for turning up the heat and waking up the froggies so they can at least try to save themselves.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Liz Mair is the one who published the old model photo of Melania. She is an idiot.
Doesn't excuse Donny's vile response or the media lies. All Liz Mair did was help the Democrats.

"This independent group is called “Make America Awesome” and is led by consultant Liz Mair. Ted Cruz was on track to win Utah by huge margins before the ad ran. The extremely low-budget ad made a splash, as ads featuring naked women tend to. As a result of the splash, some criticized it for crossing the boundary that typically prohibits political groups from going after a candidate’s family. But such lines have been obliterated by the Donald Trump campaign this year. Trump had previously disparaged Jeb Bush’s wife, among other women."

"Trump’s response to the ad was to threaten Heidi Cruz, Ted Cruz’s wife. He has continued to threaten to reveal negative information about her and has disparaged her looks. Cruz had nothing whatsoever to do with the ad — if he did, it would be a serious violation of federal law — and yet has spoken against it. In response, to Trump’s threats, Cruz has repeatedly told Trump to knock it off, while also defending and praising his wife, Heidi, and speaking well of Melania. Here’s an example of that:

Ted Cruz on Twitter:
"Donald, real men don't attack women. Your wife is lovely, and Heidi is the love of my life."

And, for example:

"on the Melania Trump ad: "That ad was completely inappropriate. I had nothing to do with it."

So to review. An anti-Trump group unaffiliated with any campaign hit Melania Trump. Cruz denounced that attack ad that he had nothing to do with. He defended his own wife and he spoke well of of Trump’s wife.


Read to the end so see the media trashing of the GOP - both Donny and Cruz.

Good going Liz Mair and Donny! Nice work.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Lem's comment at 10:31 is literally incomprehensible to me

I'm lucky I understand it.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I think it would be awesome to have Bernie V Cruz. Let's have this ideological fight once an for all. Clinton and Trump are the same person.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Twitter can't tell who I like in the primaries.

So it hedges its bets.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Bernie V Cruz would be a clearer distinction.

chickelit said...

"on the Melania Trump ad: "That ad was completely inappropriate. I had nothing to do with it."

Written days after the election it affected.

deborah said...

Thanks, April, don't have time to read it now...must dash.

chickelit said...

deborah said...
know if it is possible for Sanders to beat Hillary, even factoring in superdelegates?

You may as well ask whether Debbie-Wasserman Schultz will resign. Not gonna happen. Can you imagine how much money and influence would be spurned?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Thin - Chickl. Not really the Crime of all crimes. I suppose this means the fire hose of Pecker Enquirer lying about 5 extra martial affairs as retaliation is A-OK?
Ever stop to think that Liz Mair did this on her own and Cruz had no idea until later, you know- he's kinda busy. ???

chickelit said...

@April: I'm not talking about Liz Mair. I'm talking about the woman on Cavuto's show earlier this month. Why is she suddenly a spokeswoman for all women feeling threatened by Melania Trump?

Where were these same women when Scott Brown (Mr. Cosmo Centerfold) was running for Senate? Were they offended?

PS: I totally get the optics. Just pointing out the hypocrisy.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Didn't see the Cavuto show- No cable!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I think attacking Melania Trump is stupid. No matter who is doing it and why.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Can we have Melania and Ivanka instead of Trump?

Meade said...

"Liz Mair is the one who published the old model photo of Melania."

Actually, blogger Trooper York published that old model photo of Melania right here on Lem's Levity long before Liz Mair ever did.
You could argue that Trooper York wags the tail of the Liz Mair dog.

Chip Ahoy said...

Ricpic, about Lem's comment *grammarian alert* it's the preposition "protest of ...."

The group described is protesting against the second group described. They're not the same group.

Michael Haz said...

Here's March 8th clip form Neal Cavuto's program on FNC. This kicked off the attack on Melania Trump.

Link.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

What I am seeing is that we have to keeping digging backwards to find out what angers Trump to the point where he and his supporters and his pal at the National Enquirer launch a false story (one shopped by club Rubio with no takers) about Cruz having 5 extra martial affairs - right before a state where pols show Cruz leading Trump by a small margin.

now it's - because Melania.

Trooper York said...

As usual Lawnboy is a moron. I published various cheesecake photos of Melania. Better than the one that Luckless Liz used.

Of course I did it on a site populated with perverts and a few women who enjoy their company. Not in the Tablet or the Mormon Magic Underwear Daily.

You will recall that Lizzie got fired from Scott Walkers campaign because even that sap could see she was poison.

What is interesting as that Liz's Hate-Trump PAC has the same address as Carly Fiorina's PAC. The same Carly PAC that Cruz gave $500,000. Conicendence?

National Enquiring minds want to know.

Trooper York said...

$500,000

Think about that for a moment. Why would someone fighting for his life give such a chunk of change to someone who dropped out of the race?

I await your reasoned response.

Oh I know.

TRUMP!

Michael Haz said...

Made up my mind. I'm writing in James Mattis for president.

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/03/26/the-solution-to-the-2016-quagmire-gen-james-mattis/

Mattis/Petraeus 2016

Meade said...

Salacious rumors aside, the fact remains: overall, Trump is profoundly unpopular with general election voters.

chickelit said...

Salacious rumors aside, the fact remains: overall, Hillary Clinton is profoundly unpopular with general election voters.

I know this via my mother.

Meade said...

Made up my mind: I predict the Republican nominee will be Paul Ryan and the Democratic nominee will be Joe Biden. Sad as that may be for anti-establismenters left and right.