The disillusionment with elites has been brewing forever, such is the nature of common vs. elite. However I would say the outright detestment for normal people reached its pinnacle when Obama said people who don’t vote for him “cling to guns and religion” and Hilary Clinton said those voting Trump were a “basket of deplorables”. Such blanket statements from our leaders describing half the country truly proved the minds of those fully detached from the common man.
It’s fair to protest and disagree. It’s another thing to call those who oppose you in a democratic society “nazis” or other hyperbolic pablum.
The absolute failure and collapse of the American left will be studied endlessly over the coming years. It will rebuild. But the wilderness will be long and difficult.
> Such blanket statements from our leaders describing half the country truly proved the minds of those fully detached from the common man.
Of the two parties this past election, one ran a campaign of governing for all America, and the other of division, with a loud and clear goal of punishing the half of the country that didn't vote for them.
Yet, strangely enough, the latter campaign was the one that succeeded. It's strange how the standard for the two parties differs.
> It’s another thing to call those who oppose you in a democratic society “nazis” or other hyperbolic pablum.
Are you implying that it's somehow impossible for a democracy to elect a fascist or an authoritarian? Did the Confederacy, or the Reich just magically appear out of thin air?
(Bonus question: Why do they... Keep giving, and applauding Nazi salutes at rallies? Did they sleep through history class? Are they unaware of what that symbol means? Should I not believe what I see with my own eyes?)
I grew up in NoVA. The dominant attitude at the time among the cognitive elites who worked for government was that we know how to do things, and we’ll use our capabilities in service of doing the things the common people want. It was a veneer even then—for example immigration has been increasing for decades even though the majority has never wanted that. But at least lip service was paid to the order of authority.
Sometime between Bush and Trump I that was replaced by an attitude of “the common people are deplorables and our values and goals are better.” Same attitude we have in south asia actually.
It’s fair to protest and disagree. It’s another thing to call those who oppose you in a democratic society “nazis” or other hyperbolic pablum.
The absolute failure and collapse of the American left will be studied endlessly over the coming years. It will rebuild. But the wilderness will be long and difficult.