When friends of mine started up the “tea party” protests last year, I wondered: Could large numbers of American take the common-sense, freedom point of view and really run with it?
I had hopes.
But for Democrat congressional leaders, and some in the media, there was mostly fear and loathing — along with red-herring charges of racism against Tea Partyers.
Now, David Brooks, writing in the New York Times, focuses on something a bit different. Noticing that 41 percent of Americans have a favorable attitude towards the Tea Party movement — far higher levels of support than for either major party — Brooks interprets that tendency in terms of what we oppose: “The concentrated power of the educated class.”
Brooks insists that “Every single idea associated with the educated class has grown more unpopular over the past year.” And he’s not cheering.
Michael Barone, in The Washington Examiner, clarifies this new class divide, writing, “The Obama enthusiasts who dominated so much of the 2008 campaign cycle were motivated by style. The tea party protesters who dominated so much of 2009 were motivated by substance.”
There is an ancient truth: Being smart doesn’t make you wise. In fact, flaunting your schooling and lording over others with your cleverness makes you a de facto fool.
And wrapping up fantasies and hopes in stylish, we’re-smarter-than-you packaging doesn’t make them any more intellectually defensible.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
6 replies on “Tea Party Principles – Populist?”
Has anyone noticed the irony that Scott Brown was elected to represent the state that was the site of the original tea party?
Well said again, Paul.
-Gary
And the state that had Kenendy who wrote the (original) monstrous “health care” bill. That would have bankrupted the country.
While the French Revolution was not simple, the aristocracy and the indifference of the educated classes were driving forces. The constant chatter of the “betters” in the salons of Paris betrayed the suffering that the peasantry endured at the hands of the landed classes, thus the freeing of dissidents and felons from the Bastille.
The ensuing blood-letting as the French searched for fraternity, liberty, and equality brought created the conditions for the rise of Napoleon.
Will Americans learn anything from the observation of historical precedents?
We want our country back from the far left. They are violating the US Constitution.
Sir,
To borrow from Calvin Coolidge –
to the best of my memory –
“Education alone is not the answer. Educated derelicts are legend.”
Brooks is wrong, again. He is confusing the educated class with liberals and progressives. Perhaps, he should read Russell Kirk’s tenets of conservatism.
Michael F. Misczuk