Posted by aogMonday, 06 November 2006 at 08:32 TrackBack Ping URL

Con Descension

Via Peter Burnet is this quote from Janet Daley at the Telegraph —

So when exactly did snobbery become the province of the Left?

I would say when Socialism became the fashionable thing and the noveau riche adopted it as a status symbol indicating they were part of the “smart” set. It can’t be surprising that the party that depends the most on the backing of the super rich (i.e., the Democratic Party) is the party of sneering condescension? Senator Kerry, for instance, is a drone of a drone, his money derived from marrying someone who got their money by marrying well. Even the Lamont / Lieberman race is an example of pushing out a non-elite for someone rich enough to drop $12M of his own cash in to the race.

This seems a natural result when a political party’s policies are no longer popular. The only way to maintain them is to depend increasingly on people who are not only insulated from the pernicious results of the policies but who can be targeted personally rather than through broad appeals. It gradually changes to be more and more of a con game which only reenforces the disdain for the marks.I have seen comments (no link) to the effect that the Townhouse gang doesn’t really believe in its politics, but is basically a boiler room operation selling illusions to the desperate to not be disillusioned. A good gig if you can avoid laughing at the wrong time, but not one that engenders much respect for the masses.