Who are they? Part V

Who are "they"?

It's an ongoing question here, and I have devoted a number of posts to the issue.

In a piece titled "Boss Rangel and the Spirit of 1876," Walter Russell Mead really nails them:

....take the upper middle class neo-Puritan goody-goodies out of the mix and there isn't all that much left of the Democratic Party.

These folks, spiritually if not biologically descended from the original New England Puritans, really believe that the state is here to make virtue reign among men. In the nineteenth century they were the 'Conscience Whigs' who opposed Sabbath delivery of the mails, the relocation of the Cherokee Indians and slavery. Later they supported female suffrage, Prohibition and disarmament. Today they are against torture, tobacco and trans fats.

These are the cats, Joe, who really believe that the state is here to make us Do Right. These are the university professors and academic bureaucrats who believe in suppressing free speech in the name of polite discourse -- just as they did 100 years ago when dirty books were banned in Boston. These are the folks who want to write long 'codes of conduct' to regulate sexual encounters among undergraduates in the name of feminism -- which again is pretty much what they were doing when Victoria was queen. These folks want a strong national government because they deeply, truly and instinctively believe that true freedom means doing right, and that a government that makes people behave right makes them more free.

In other words, "they" are people who believe that they have a duty as well as a right to rule, notwithstanding the nation's founding principle that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. Fortunately, as Glenn Reynolds noted, "only 21 percent of American voters believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed."

They must just hate that.

posted by Eric on 03.07.10 at 11:28 PM





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Most of "them" are parasites, and should be ejected from the public trough. Their real purpose is funding for their family and friends; the social reform and planet rescue is their excuse.

Brett   ·  March 8, 2010 09:21 AM

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