Will and Kate, the tea party, and ‘anti-elitism’
The barrage of coverage in our media of the engagement of Will and Kate, the future king and queen of England, is easy to explain. It’s the latest news event for our celebrity-drenched culture.
What I had a harder time understanding, before I lived in Europe, was the appeal of a monarchy within a democracy like Britain, or Spain, or the Netherlands, in the 21st century. Could any institution be more anachronistic? Why do some people still put up with having, even paying taxes to maintain, a king or queen?
The answer I finally settled on, after getting to know natives of those and other countries with royalty, transcends mere tradition. It goes something like this: We are theirs, but they are also ours.
The royal rush this past week — and the irony of American fascination with the heir to the British crown in this age of the tea party — got me to thinking about how that sentiment went missing in the relationship between American “commoners” and our own elites.
Ask people of any political persuasion what’s wrong with this country, and you repeatedly will hear some version of We are theirs, but they have spun out of our control.
You see it in many areas of American life: in anger at fat-cat CEOs and Wall Street bailouts, in frustration at the mainstream media and its biases, in contempt for Hollywood liberals as well as organized religion. It is clearest in relation to politics.
There is populism across the political spectrum; see the left’s constant assaults on “the rich.” But the most potent brand of people power today belongs to the tea party.
Tea-party populism is sometimes described as anti-elitism, even anti-intellectualism when the subject expands to include the cultural and academic elite. The labels are mistaken.
“Fairness” and equality of outcomes (as opposed to equality of opportunity), the great leveling of society by whittling away at the top, are not the tea partiers’ preoccupations.
They don’t resent people who are successful or intelligent. What they resent is those people who believe success or intelligence comes with the right to tell everyone else what to do. The tea partiers believe not only that the “elites” don’t necessarily know what is good for the rest of us but, worse, that they don’t even bother to ask.
There’s a difference between tea-party populism and the way it is depicted. But while the left and right argue about that, it’s becoming clear that vast caste in the middle, the independents, are buying what the tea party is selling — for now, and only up to a point.
We have seen the political pendulum set land-speed records as it swings from one party to the other and back again. Come January, the balance of power in the House of Representatives will have gone from Republicans +31, to Democrats +78, to Republicans +51, in a span of just six years.
The mantra of the independent voters pushing the pendulum back and forth seems to be: We can’t trust either party past the next election.
As long as the middle remains in that mind-set, the attraction of limited government will only get stronger. The challenge for the newly elected members of our political elite is to make good on their promises — and to go about that in an orderly, sober, well-explained fashion.
Do that, and the claims of rampant “anti-elitism” will become an anachronism, too.
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146 comments Add your comment
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 20th, 2010
8:00 am
Libbtards have a pretty loose definition of “corporate welfare”, including paying corporations to provide products and services to our military, so of course loaning money to GM and Chrysler, as well as holding most of their stock, is corporate welfare.
You’re in denial because your Idiot Messiah is the one handing out this corporate welfare.
Rodney
November 20th, 2010
8:00 am
CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG ???
duck feal
November 20th, 2010
8:02 am
run along lil barry you bore me with your regurgitation of rush’s talking points. we get enough of that in this country 24/7. what are you really adding to the conversation other than running your mouth to justify your existance.
Mr_B
November 20th, 2010
8:07 am
No; Barry I don’t. I do remember a projection prior to the Jan. 2009, based on the economic data provided by the previous administration, an no doubt based on their best estimates. (No, bad numbers aren’t Bush’s fault; got that on eout of the way.) That the estimates were off is not O’bama’s doing either. What would you rather have, no borrowing and a rate of 25%?
I don’t believe that the POTUS has all the answers, nor will he always be right. But I know for sure what we were doing wasn’t working.
Techfan
November 20th, 2010
8:26 am
If the Tea Parties weren’t funded by Freedomworks, Americans for Prosperity, and other corporate shills, it might make more sense. When they scream about “sending our jobs overseas”, yet their sponsors are the ones who have done just that, or “No Government Healthcare, Leave My Medicare Alone” it reeks of hypocrisy.
the mehlman rings twice
November 20th, 2010
8:30 am
Kyle,
Let me tell you what will eventually happen. If the Obamas attend the royal wedding, on group of right wing nuts will claim that they are exploiting the privileges of office. If they don’t go, the other wing of the right wing group of nuts (Gingrich) will claim that they are anti-colonial British haters.
My real hope is that Kate will continue to take her birth control pills and we won’t have to worry about this sad group of welfare recipients anymore.
jconservative
November 20th, 2010
8:35 am
There are those who demand smaller government except where they demand bigger government.
There are those who demand less intrusive government except where they demand more intrusive government.
There are those who demand we cut spending except where they demand we do not cut spending.
There are those who frown on putting people on pedestals except for those people they put on pedestals.
And this is just my thoughts on the Tea Party.
I will try to get to the Left tomorrow.
Nice White Guy
November 20th, 2010
9:02 am
Kyle, a well considered and well written column.
And with these sentences, You see it in many areas of American life: in anger at fat-cat CEOs and Wall Street bailouts, in frustration at the mainstream media and its biases, in contempt for Hollywood liberals as well as organized religion. and The mantra of the independent voters pushing the pendulum back and forth seems to be: We can’t trust either party past the next election. you are becoming the very antithesis of the sloganeering, substance-free, hyper-partisan purveyors of claptrap that predominate this forum.
Kudos, and keep up the good work…
carlosgvv
November 20th, 2010
9:02 am
“We can’t trust either party past the next election”
Actually, we can’t trust either party at any time. So, the Tea Party comes along and asks for our trust. Unfortunately, they are so shallow and empty-headed they make the current Democrats and Republicans look like saints. We can’t win for loosing.
Roy-Is-A-Crook
November 20th, 2010
9:10 am
Actually, I believe the Tea Party people are opposed to people who can think, spell and speak correctly, that is what they refer to as “elitism.”
Mitzymy
November 20th, 2010
9:17 am
No matter what our President does, or how intelligent he is, the t-party people and bigots will always find fault. If we were all blind where we could only hear and not see the color of our skin, things would be much better. The t-party people are all followers, except the ones who got them involved by inciting them with hate. Most of them don’t even know what they want until someone tells them, then they go off the deep end. A lot of them receive social security, medicare, medicade, ssi, and other government entitilments, and didn’t even know that the haters were advocating getting rid of these items. They spun off of the Republican party, but they are too extreme for the repubs. Take the crazy Ran Paul for instance, he wants to roll the civil rights laws back to the 50’s, and he wasn’t even born then. Can you imagine what a civil war we would have if someone did this.
carlosgvv
November 20th, 2010
9:27 am
Mitzymy
Here’s How I see it.
Tea Party=Sarah Palin=deer in the headlights
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 20th, 2010
9:39 am
Roy/Mitzy/carlos, don’t cry like little girls just because your Idiot Messiah got rejected on November 2.
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 20th, 2010
9:41 am
Obama’s Democrats in disarray over expiring tax cuts
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s fellow Democrats in the U.S. Congress, many upset with him for election losses, are in disarray over what to do about tax cuts for millions of Americans that are set to expire on December 31.
Rafe Hollister
November 20th, 2010
10:21 am
Just wait guys, sometime soon Barry is going to sign a bill authorizing the extention of the Bush tax cuts, and when he does, they become the Obama Tax Cuts for the Wealthy. You guys will blame the Tea Party and the Republicans, but in your heart you will know, that you have been deceived by your messiah.
Just as he promised you to close Gitmo, leave Iraq, and give civilian trials to those murderers held at Club Gitmo. No matter how many times he fails to live up to his promises, you guys always blame the mean ole opposition for making him break his promises. Poor little Barry, overwhelmed and under qualified.
carlosgvv
November 20th, 2010
10:27 am
Lil’ Barry Bailout
I am going to watch with pleasure the next two years of Republican Tea Party politics. Their empty-headed shallow-minded ideology will shine forth for all to see and Obama will win an easy re-election. Listening to you and others sputter about it will be even better.
duck feal
November 20th, 2010
10:27 am
The president is the only Democrat that even tried to put up a good argument for the accomplishments of the last two years, moderate and watered down as they were.The rest of the nutless dems went right, ran from what they believed in enough to vote for, and got their -sses handed to them. Yet they blame the president.
Left wing management
November 20th, 2010
10:35 am
I’m struck that you don’t address the common accusation that the tea party movement represents some sort of upsurge of racism brought on by the first black president. Which gets many on the left riled up, but not me so much. To me, even if there’s something proto-tribal about tea party anger, the point is not to condemn but rather to find the genuine seeds of discontent – which is in the economic sphere, not racial – and see how these experiences can be marshaled towards emancipatory ends.
As to the race issue, I’ve frankly always thought that one of the most infuriating things to the right about the presidency of the Barack Obama was not so much his policy, but the fact that since the Democrats got there first with a black president it robbed the right the chance to outdo them, to steal their fire and deal them a blow by forcing them to honor the first black president as a conservative. In other words, it would be the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings on steroids. Had the right beaten the Democrats to it, they could have forced the left to swallow 4 years of an African American as president, who would have been subject to endless accusations of “Uncle Tom”, that would have been a huge coup for them.
It’s some of these types of missed opportunities that most deeply infuriate the right and in my view this accounts in no small measure in the rise of the TP.
the mehlman rings twice
November 20th, 2010
10:42 am
Lil’ Barry Bailout,
Say what you will about President Obama, but he is not the one who presided over the biggest financial meltdown since the Great Depression caused, in part, by a shadow banking system and a loosened regulatory environment.
Left wing management
November 20th, 2010
10:47 am
the mehlman rings twice … ” shadow banking system and a loosened regulatory environment ”
Two very good reasons for reinventing capital, stripping it from the hands of the financiers, and making it pay out dividends to workers and ordinary citizens.
Dirty Dawg
November 20th, 2010
10:48 am
What is really means is that we’re dominated by a corporate oligarchy – with a political bribery and propaganda machine – that knows if they can fool enough of the people enough of the time they can make ga-zillions…it’s just that they have to keep on re-foolin’ ‘em and given the lack of critical thinking that seems to exist, along with the cognitive dissonance that discourages that type of thinking, and, oh yeah, people like Kyle here that seem so willing to help carry their water, they aren’t having much of a problem pulling it off.
@@
November 20th, 2010
10:58 am
Well, Kyle, across the pond, it’s the pomp and circumstance surrounding royalty that so easily impresses.
Here in the states, it’s the pumping of circumstances that’ll carry the day with the left’s “slip nots”….the mistaken belief that living vicariously thru is all that’s needed to put them on a level playing field with the elite.
Unfortunately for them, leftist fools are a hardy bunch.
Skip
November 20th, 2010
10:59 am
Thanks for an entertaining morning all, and especially Lil B, keep em coming bud you crack me up.
John Kerry
November 20th, 2010
11:00 am
Criticize all you want about Sarah Palin, Barbara Bush, but at least her son showed up for his military service.
killerj
November 20th, 2010
11:03 am
St. Andrews Forever “X”. Kyle get a real job.
the mehlman rings twice
November 20th, 2010
11:13 am
Kyle,
Allow me to rearrange one of your paragraphs from above. The middle doesn’t resent people who are successful or intelligent. What they resent is those people who lived off their parent’s success who believe they are entitled to take shortcuts in life and commit crimes without punishment, and still believe that their birth comes with the right to tell everyone else what to do. The middle believe not only that the “elites” don’t necessarily know what is good for the rest of us but, worse, that they don’t even bother to listen unless a lobbyist is holding a check in their hand.
DannyX
November 20th, 2010
11:41 am
“the tea party, and ‘anti-elitism’
Thank God the Tea Party has Sarah Palin. She’s as far away from Hollywood as you can get, 3,000 miles. She can’t see Hollywood from her backyard. Sarah is no Hollywood elite. Nope. She tapes her “reality” show in Alaska. That makes her real. So do the sippy straws she demands at speaking engagements.
Sarah is such a star she can send her very young daughter to do Hollywood. Dancing with the Stars! In fact Bristol has moved up a notch in this weeks Top 10 Reality TV Star list! Congrats. I wonder if Bristol can see the Hollywood sign from her Penthouse?
Top 10 Reality TV Stars:
10 Chloe
9 Sarah’s House Husband
8 Ru Paul
7 The Situation
6 Kate
5 Speidi
4 Kim
3 Snookie
2 Bristol
1 Sarah
get out much?
November 20th, 2010
12:06 pm
I find it ironic that the “anti-elite” faction of the Republican party considers the Andover and ivy league educated grandson of a US Senator and son of a US president to be a “common” man, while considering the (also) ivy league educated son of a single mother, who needed food stamps and welfare, to be an “elite”.
midtownguy
November 20th, 2010
12:11 pm
I lived in London for about three years, and the thing that impressed me about the all the royals is the concept of “first in privilege, first in service.” All the children of the Monarchy, Lords and even lesser royals do military service. As opposed to America’s “kings” (Bush, Kennedy,et) who avoid military service and expect the “last in privilege” to do their fighting for them.
Jerry Springer Answers to Frontline Questions
November 20th, 2010
12:20 pm
The American “commoner” wants Jerry Springer Answers to Frontline Questions, and the Tea Party is giving them what they want.
Not So Casual Observer
November 20th, 2010
12:26 pm
Mitzy @ 9:17am,
A civil war? Really?
So is the minority consisting of 12% of the population going to initiate this war against the other 88%? Or are the 12% going after the 65+% considered white? Or are the 20% who identify themselves as liberal going to war with the other 80%? Or are the 20% who are liberal going to war with the 40% who identify themselves as conservative? Or will this be all of the consistently red states under attack from the few consistently blue states? Or will this war be initiated by the entire Nation of Islam against the rest?
“Take the crazy Ran Paul “(Rand Paul?). Ok, Mitzy I will, if the choice is more Obama, Pelosi or Reid – all three of whom have recently demonstrated their insanity by attempting to “spin” the results of the election as a lack of communication or being unable to clearly present their message and accomplishments. The reality is the Dems did clearly present their message and deeds and they were rejected!
You should turn off MSNBC and actually read something and perhaps then you would not mindlessly parrot Matthews and Maddow and know the name of the Senator-elect from Kentucky.
get out much?
November 20th, 2010
12:30 pm
midtown guy – ever heard of PT 109? Joe Kennedy Jr. – killed in action in WWII, Bobby Kennedy was in the Navy and Ted Kennedy was in the army.
Michael H. Smith
November 20th, 2010
12:42 pm
Mr_B: No confusion on my part, although you do have a right to your own opinion, even when it is different and misguided.
Left wing management
November 20th, 2010
12:43 pm
midtownguy: “As opposed to America’s “kings” (Bush, Kennedy,et) who avoid military service and expect the “last in privilege” to do their fighting for them.”
Not true about the Kennedys actually.
Not So Casual Observer
November 20th, 2010
12:45 pm
More gems (gyms?, jims?) from Mitzy:
“The t-party people are all followers” – “except the ones who got them involved by inciting them with hate.” Did you mean TEA PARTY? When you only listen, and never read, phonetic mistakes of “Ran” and “t-party” are the result. Mitzy, do you understand the significance of “Tea Party”?
“Most of them don’t even know what they want… ”
“A lot of them receive social security…”
“They spun off of the Republican party…”
“then they go off the deep end”
This would be hilarious if not representative of the mindset of liberalism and the vast majority of Obama voters in 2008 – a group who, for the most part, had no idea of Obama’s politics, his history, his accomplishments (or lack thereof) or his ties to foreign interests.
To paraphrase another: ” The frightening aspect of the 2008 election is not that an unknown, intellectually deficient man ran for President, but that over 50% of the people are alleged to have voted for him.”
Left wing management
November 20th, 2010
12:47 pm
midtownguy:
And actually, to be completely fair, George Herbert Walker Bush served very honorably
Left wing management
November 20th, 2010
12:58 pm
Not So Casual Observer: “This would be hilarious if not representative of the mindset of liberalism”
What in god’s name do you mean by ‘liberalism’ here?
Where you get your political lexicon from ? People whose heads are filled with pseudo-thought from Limbaugh, Hannity and their ilk can’t lecture people about literacy son.
Not So Casual Observer
November 20th, 2010
1:00 pm
J Springer@12:20,
You scrofulous poltroon!
The American “commoner” is the heart, soul and backbone of the United States and clearly sick of the double-speak and self-indulgent behavior of the common Democrat and Republican.
Go see the movie “Unstoppable” – that is a depiction of the American commoner and they are people with everyday problems who do extraordinary things. I would much rather sit down to dinner with any of those “common” people than any of the members of the current administration – none of whom have displayed an understanding of this country or the greatness of those who left in our care the grandest nation in the history of the world.
The POTUS and his minions have demonstrated nothing but unlimited ego and total disdain for the American people. As the first lady (lowercase intentional) instructs the nation to tighten their belts and what foods to eat, she has a $450+ afternoon snack of caviar and champagne in a New York hotel. Arrogance thy name is OBAMA!
Not So Casual Observer
November 20th, 2010
1:11 pm
L-W mgt @ 12:58,
Assumption makes a donkey out of you! heh, heh
Liberalism is a mindless, spineless failure. Does that satisfy your curiosity?
My view comes not from those you listed but from reading the works of liberals and the posts on this blog as well as others at the ajc and newspapers, along with the tripe on the daily.kos. The kos in particular is a presentation of profanity, senseless rants and hate.
If Obama is a liberal, then his views, as presented in the books listing him as the author, should make any patriotic American seethe with anger and avoid liberalism at all costs.
Not So Casual Observer
November 20th, 2010
1:19 pm
L-W,
You have demonstrated no intellectual depth that I have observed, little boy!
A minor virtue, such as military service, is far from enough to redeem Ted Kennedy. Teddy is the classic example of the “aristocratic mindset” that treats manslaughter and rape to be simple little errors by young men in the Kennedy family. Do I need to list all of the examples for you?
Perhaps now you would like to tell me what a great man Teddy’s DC drinking buddy, Chris Dodd, has been?
Left wing management
November 20th, 2010
1:46 pm
Not so KO :
What I’m challenging you on is this knee-jerk assumption of what liberalism is, as though it only has one type of representative in the current political climate. The real radical liberals of our age must certainly be Reagan and Thatcher, and all the fellow travelers who followed them, including Bill Clinton and Tony Blair by the way.
DannyX
November 20th, 2010
1:48 pm
You want elite?
How many of you are in the book of an elite DC prostitute? How many of you can make a call and get instant access to diapers and sex?
You want elite?
How about the “I’m a US SENATOR” defense when being busted in an airport bathroom?
You want elite?
How many of you have access to a short skirted Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist?
You want elite?
How many of you have sat down with a Georgia Ports Authority team to discuss future business?
j
November 20th, 2010
2:00 pm
the tea party are merely pawns and puppets being played by the usual suspects. where were they the last 30 years?
It’s too late now, the damage has been done. they were late for the party.
The Anti-Wooten
November 20th, 2010
2:51 pm
I see that Lil Barry used the Teahadist’s made up word “refudiate” early in this blog. Clearly we don’t need to worry about elitism, intelligence or education from that corner of the room.
DannyX
November 20th, 2010
3:10 pm
Lil Barney is the blog deputy. He’ll be along shortly with his bullet to falsfudiate everything. Then someone will come in and have to trufudiate the whole place.
Btw, are no-bid contracts elitist?
If no bids are non-elitist, is there a website to point me to that serves Georgia? One that lists all the no-bid contracts. I am eager to get rich today.
Left wing management
November 20th, 2010
3:56 pm
“If no bids are non-elitist, is there a website to point me to that serves Georgia? One that lists all the no-bid contracts. I am eager to get rich today.”
I think it helps if you have silver hair, a syrupy drawl, a good golf game, and are good at spouting laissez faire rhetoric (with some good states rights oldies but goodies thrown in for good measure) and can rub some good elbow with the old boy network.
Jim Bob
November 20th, 2010
3:59 pm
A good Monarchy is superior to a poor Democracy (or a poor Republic). Maybe it is time we went “home” to England.
iRun
November 20th, 2010
4:05 pm
Man, y’all are a whole bunch of impotent anger, the whole bunch.
Whatchoo guys need is to go outside and go for a run.
But that would just make you angrier cause I can outrun all of you.
Outrun by a girl.
iRun
November 20th, 2010
4:56 pm
Hey, it’s been an hour since my post. Did I kill this blog with my awesome running ability? Or my awesome ability to brag about my running?
Or is everybody just watching football?
catlady
November 20th, 2010
4:58 pm
You must live in an alternative universe as far as the tea party goes, Kyle. Or maybe it is just our local tea party members. They are generally high-school-educated, on Social Security, and all white in our county (Our county is 90%+ white). They want to “cut spending” unless it is on them. They want to “live within our means” unless it means they don’t continue to get what they expect. You see, nothing they get is an “entitlement” according to them.(They ignore that they put in only a fraction of what they with be paid from social security, and use much more of the Medicare than they have paid for.) The women uniformly have little work experience outside the home, but fully expect to draw off their husband’s work history. They rail against the health care program, but fully expect for either Medicare to pay their bills, or they expect the hospital and doctor to charge off their expenses. They expect to go first in voting lines and at the ER. They snidely remark about the “entitlement” mentality as they take tax deductions on their mortgage interest, 401k, and charitable giving to the hatemonger of their choice.
These are the tea partiers in my county. I know them, and I fear them. Their siren song is hard to resist for the near-illiterates that populate this area.