An Boston Globe op-ed yesterday gibes with what I wrote earlier about how modern progressives fail at populism. I do have a few quibbles with the piece. One is an assumption that populism must be rural-based, demographic trends suggest otherwise. Another is that this is all about whites; many African-Americans and Hispanics I met years ago in the service shared similar thoughts about the liberal leadership being condescending and taking working people's votes for granted.
Gabler ends with, "It’s condescension, stupid. And, by the way, don’t call them “stupid.’’ They hate that." I would add they're not stupid either. There are many intelligent, well-read, and curious people out there who never went to college, let alone have an advanced degree. Oh yeah, they're not all bigots either. My vehement ant-racism does not spring from my college education, but rather being taught by my working class parents that racism was wrong. This I learned from that growing up in a largely Irish-American neighborhood just outside of Boston during the busing crisis in the 70s.
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