This actually goes back to a post you made a couple months ago when you said that very few liberals in America identify themselves with collectivism. I think this is because the American left is different from what we traditionally think of as “the left.”
I was a liberal not too long ago. I was confused when the Fox News commentators labeled John Kerry an “elite.” I thought we were the populist party, looking out for the little guy? But modern liberalism is only a populist movement on the surface. In actual fact, most liberals despise the "average American." Wal-Mart, pick-up trucks, NASCAR, strip malls, suburban tract homes, trailer parks: all dirty words in Blue State America. The desire to empower the blue collar worker is not based on any sort of fellow-feeling, but is simply a philosophical stance taken for the high moral position it gives us. Liberalism grants us immunity on touchy social issues that we feel guilty about (race/sex/money etc).
So I think you’re correct to observe this divide between the collectivist liberals (panel 2) and the modern sort (panel 3 and, from what I can tell, the curators of the Biennial).
The “common person” in America has essentially remained the same for the last 50 years. These are the same bumpkins and squares that voted for liberals in the past. They understand that the stability of society rests on a certain level of decency and restraint. This is what is meant when voters cite “moral values” for the reason they went out to the polls. The liberals used to understand this, but the “tear down all social barriers” mentality of the sixties counter culture movement has yet to leave the bloodstream.
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Date: 2006-04-03 02:13 pm (UTC)I was a liberal not too long ago. I was confused when the Fox News commentators labeled John Kerry an “elite.” I thought we were the populist party, looking out for the little guy? But modern liberalism is only a populist movement on the surface. In actual fact, most liberals despise the "average American." Wal-Mart, pick-up trucks, NASCAR, strip malls, suburban tract homes, trailer parks: all dirty words in Blue State America. The desire to empower the blue collar worker is not based on any sort of fellow-feeling, but is simply a philosophical stance taken for the high moral position it gives us. Liberalism grants us immunity on touchy social issues that we feel guilty about (race/sex/money etc).
So I think you’re correct to observe this divide between the collectivist liberals (panel 2) and the modern sort (panel 3 and, from what I can tell, the curators of the Biennial).
The “common person” in America has essentially remained the same for the last 50 years. These are the same bumpkins and squares that voted for liberals in the past. They understand that the stability of society rests on a certain level of decency and restraint. This is what is meant when voters cite “moral values” for the reason they went out to the polls. The liberals used to understand this, but the “tear down all social barriers” mentality of the sixties counter culture movement has yet to leave the bloodstream.