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August 30, 2009
The Good Life.
Obama vacations in Martha's Vineyard, Bush in Crawford Texas. Nancy Pelosi wants twice the private jet that the prior Denny Hassert enjoyed. Edwards' two nations really mean his mansion and those down the road. The really tony environmentalist pundits and activists think slapping on some solar panels on a five-car garage, or putting up a windmill out in front of the gazebo, is an "offset."
I used to think that the elite left's obsession with the good life was an amusing act of hypocrisy (gone are the Democrat's Harry Trumans), but lately it seems far more interesting and complicated. It is almost a personality quirk: the more one desires to have private jets, influential friends, the status that comes with the right location, right schools, and the right job, the more likely one is to mouth the "correct" ideology. Elite liberalism, as we see with the Obamas and their cohorts (and with the Clinton clique as well), is no contradiction. If anything, privilege is the proper compensation for being "good" and "right" on things. -- Victor Hason: What We Are Learning About the Era of Obama
Posted by Vanderleun at August 30, 2009 10:01 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
The Democratic Party is now the party of Wall Street and the big unions. It is the Party of academia and of the media. Who is the opposition? A few right-to-life cranks, some gun nuts, the strict racial equalitarians, paleo-patriots, free-market fanatics, Bible believers, and monogamy meatheads. That's it.
But it may be enough.
Posted by: Fred at August 31, 2009 7:12 AM
Politicians who are in office for personal power and going to grab power and money and all the goodies. Those who think they might be there to serve probably won't.
Politicians of bothe parties do about the same thing. But the Democrats are more likely to regard office and government as some supreme service one can provide for the people.
Think of Ted. Wasn't he was doing us all a favor just by being there.
For most newcomers there is a gradual transition and rationalization. It takes a few years. But gradually the power, luxury, your new wealthy and powerful friends, and the lobbyists who prove to have good causes, convert nearly every newcomer into the people we see today.
Slowly the incumbent's eyes open and he sees the home district as a provincial, dull place to live. Who wants to go back there? The wife and children certainly don't. They like the prestige and the ease in getting into the best colleges and firms.
Why even a spouse can pick up a few million as a consultant or lobbyist.
It is perfectly summed up in the saying "they come to do good, they stay to do well".
Posted by: K at August 31, 2009 2:28 PM