Maybe I'm really a Conservative

David Brooks wrote a column the other day about Sarah Palin, and whether she's qualified to be VP. He concludes that while she brings certain qualities to the table, those qualities, at this time do not fit well with her proposed duties. That's not the point though, that I have in mind.

Brooks makes a different point as the foundation for his argument. Brooks, like George Will, is a conservative. And Brooks points out that conservatism historically has been an "elitist" philosophy. Only recently has the "conservative" movement in America taken on a more populist hue. That may largely be due to the influx of social conservatives into the mix. When I was growing up Republican, the GOP of my youth was focused on economics and projecting a forceful military presence in the world. It was in many ways the pro-business party. It was the party of the bankers and the CEO's. It wasn't the party of unions or blue collar folk. Things have changed, in both parties. Indeed, in may ways neither major party looks the way it did 30 or 40 years ago.

But back to the elitist versus the populist sentiment. The other day we saw a wealthy socialite and former Hillary Clinton fundraiser say rather bizarrely that she was shifting her support to McCain because Obama is an elitist. Now how a wealthy socialite can say that Obama is an elitist is rather odd, at the very least. But what is interesting, and Brooks brings this up, is that Americans today seem to take a dim view of those who are educated. For some reason, Barack Obama's time at Columbia and Harvard Law School is held against him. That John McCain, like George W. Bush before him, did poorly in school seems to be a badge of honor. We embraced term limits because it returned American to rule by citizen legislators. Of course that can sometimes lead to major problems. In California, legislators are termed out just as they begin to understand their job. There's no experience present in the legislature, so most of the major decisions are farmed out to the voter through resolutions, and the voter knows even less -- but the legislators lack confidence and so they pass the buck.

Brooks speaks of the value of experience, and obviously experience comes in a variety of forms. Barack Obama's experience is less rooted in political experience and more in life experience. What seems to be present in Obama is a pragmatic, thoughtful, analytical methodology, much of which is informed by his own educational path. He's not a quick draw cowboy. He takes his time, and formulates a plan. He gathers people together, hears their views, and makes a decision. McCain has plenty of political experience and military experience, but his rhetoric suggest someone who reacts quickly and often impulsively. The choice of Sarah Palin is a good example. Now, this brought a surge of support from the base, but he has had to paper over her record and work to suppress an ongoing ethics investigation that he apparently was unaware of when the decision was made.

So, if trusting people with education and experience is conservative, then maybe I'm a conservative. Of course, in my principles, I believe in openness and inclusion, and in that sense, I'm a liberal. I guess, in reality I'm an elitist and not a populist! But what's wrong with a little elitism? Is every educated person an idiot? Not hardly! Is it a good thing to be populist? Not necessarily!

Comments

Popular Posts