http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/254939/elite-guilt-begat-obamacare-interview?page=5
LOPEZ: Who is the ultimate anti-elite?
BERAN: The founders of the Republic. They were, certainly, an elite; but they were an elite gifted with self-knowledge, and they created a constitutional system designed to frustrate the human will to power. Their system of checks and balances has preserved Americans’ liberties and at the same time allowed men like Lincoln to rise into greatness — men who lacked elite credentials and would not have gotten very far under the elitist regimes of the Old World. The question today is whether we can prevent the wreck of the founders’ labors and restrain the Leviathan of the administrative state.
As a result of the mandarin revolution over which our elites have presided, too much discretionary authority has been confided to unelected regulators and unaccountable quasi-public bodies (like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), and too much purse-string power has been vested in robo-laws that automatically trigger expenditures of public funds and steadily increase the size and scope of the government. It is sobering to reflect that overall government spending in the United States, which accounted for less than 7 percent of the gross domestic product in 1903, was estimated in 2009 to account for as much as 43 percent of GDP.
LOPEZ: Is Sarah Palin’s popularity a response to the “pathology of the elites”?
BERAN: Richard Cohen said in theWashington Post the other day that the Left “has long thought that there ought to be some connection between intelligence or learning and the right to govern.” How nice it must be to belong to that good-thinking mutual-admiration society that so forthrightly opposes its opponents’ faith in government by the stupid! For Cohen, the connection between intelligence and the right to govern is sufficiently attested in President Obama’s case by the fact that he and his wife have been “accredited by no less than four Ivy League institutions — Harvard twice and Princeton and Columbia, once each.” Res ipsa loquitur, as we elitists might say.
Sarah Palin infuriates the elites because she has not only questioned their system of accreditation, she has identified their moral “spinelessness” precisely with the elite training they have received, and has in particular questioned the moral value of an “elite Ivy League education.” Palin is saying essentially what Trilling said 60 years ago when he argued that the “educated class” of his day, however accomplished it might have been, was morally unintelligent. Your garden-variety elitist will put up with this sort of criticism from Lionel Trilling, but not from Sarah Palin. They despise the folksy candor that has made her a popular figure in much of the rest of the country.
(much more at link.....great interview of the author of “The Pathology of Elites”)
I think if Obama won in 2012, it would be time for secession.
Ping!
Great analysis, as usual, Brice. Well done.
Dude! You freakin’ ROCK!
Thanks for another great piece of writing.
This was an excellent post to read with my first cup of coffee for the day.
Great job...
What a GREAT article. I’m going to cut and paste it to my FaceBook page immediately.
I can’t tell you how frustrating it has been to hear my conservative friends say over and over again, “I like Palin, but she’s unelectable.”
No, she’s NOT unelectable, especially in 2012.
Forget what the pundits and Republican elite are saying. Just look at how they savaged the choices the people made in primaries when they weren't to their liking and you know they're not concerned about winning and recovering the Constitutional Republic as much as they're concerned with staying in their nice little cat bird seats.
Regards
I do believe the biggest hurdle will not be the general, but getting the nomination.
With people like Pence, Bolton, Cain, and other decent sounding conservatives (most of whom we like) getting into the race, the primaries become the more difficult race. None of the conservative elves can win, but if Huckaphony enters the race, the biggest danger is the vote splitting allowing the GOP elite to get its dearly beloved candidate, one Mitt Romney slithering into the nomination.
Palin is more likely to be the GOP nominee then Obama is to be the Demo nominee
This will really irritate the rats at my Local Watering Hole.
In 1978 Reagan was about as popular as Palin, maybe less so.
Thank you for an outstanding piece of original work!
I think you’ll enjoy this one.
For Palin to win the Republican party would have to hammer out some sort of an official position on abortion which conservatives could live with and which did not frighten a majority of the American people the way the issue does now. It wouldn’t hurt to have a decent pubbie position on money and banking in the bargain.
As someone who has cited these polls myself, I think you make a very good case. Right now is way too early to say anyone is unelectable, even Obama. I also acknowledge the media skews the polls to fit their predetermined positions. I am worried, however, about Palin’s unfavorable ratings which is a different subject than horse race polls.
Favorable/Unfavorable doesn’t ask you to choose between two candidates. It asks you whether you like this person. The only person with high unfavorables to win election in recent times was Harry Reid last month and I suspect much of that was due to illegal activity that will never be revealed. It makes no sense to me that thousands of people would vote for Reid but not vote for his son for governor.
Some voters have a problem with electing a woman to lead the country, believing them to be too unstable or prone to emotional reactions instead of logical ones. Any woman candidate, not just Palin, has to overcome that notion.
All I am saying is that I’m not “all in” on supporting Sarah Palin for president until I see her receive broad support as a serious candidate and not as a celebrity sideshow. There’s plenty of time to see if that will happen but I am still waiting to see how other Republicans, not just the media or Democrats, react to her as a candidate on her own, rather than as a running mate for McCain.
Right now, the GOP brand is selling better than the Democrat brand but there’s nothing to say that will be true in 2012 any more than 2008 was a precursor for 2010 results.
Brices--you say the sweetest things.