Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
What is it with the conservative columnists who write for the New York Times? Is there some secret clause in their contracts requiring them to take a certain number of shots at Fox News personalities per month? Just this week we’ve had Ross Douthat complaining that conservative criticisms of the initial Bowles-Simpson deficit commission proposal came mostly from “know-nothing television entertainers” (with a link to a Sean Hannity video clip) – while acknowledging, a mere two paragraphs later, that the proposal would leave the government’s share of GDP “at the highest level in modern American history.” Memo to Mr. Douthat: it is hardly evidence of know-nothingism that a conservative might take exception to a proposal that endorses the biggest role for government in modern American history.
Then there was this gem from David Frum:
Too often, conservatives dupe themselves. They wrap themselves in closed information systems based upon pretend information. In this closed information system, banks can collapse without injuring the rest of the economy, tax cuts always pay for themselves and Congressional earmarks cause the federal budget deficit. Even the market collapse has not shaken some conservatives out of their closed information system. It enfolded them more closely within it. This is how to understand the Glenn Beck phenomenon. Every day, Beck offers alternative knowledge — an alternative history of the United States and the world, an alternative system of economics, an alternative reality. As corporate profits soar, the closed information system insists that the free-enterprise system is under assault. As prices slump, we are warned of imminent hyperinflation. As black Americans are crushed under Depression-level unemployment, the administration’s policies are condemned by some conservatives as an outburst of Kenyan racial revenge against the white overlord.
One wonders how long it took for Mr Frum to cram that much nonsense into a single paragraph. Where to begin? Are there conservatives who believe giant global financial firms can fail without injuring the rest of the economy in any way? I doubt it. There probably are some who believe such injury may be temporary and less-than-catastrophic, and therefore an acceptable price to pay for maintaining freedom for risk-takers to fail – but that’s not Mr. Frum’s claim. Tax cuts “always” pay for themselves? There may be a few zealots who believe this, but it is hardly true of “conservatives” as a class, which is what Mr. Frum purports to describe. Conservatives believe that earmarks “cause the federal budget deficit”? Oh, come on. And the free enterprise system may or may not be “under assault,” but soaring corporate profits by themselves are hardly evidence that it is not – “corporatism,” or state-controlled capitalism, can be consistent with very healthy corporate profits, at least for a time.
The common message here is simple. It’s directed at these writers’ own overwhelmingly left-wing peer group, and it says, in bold italics, “Hey, guys, we may be more conservative than you, but at least we’re not part of that Palin-loving, Fox-watching rabble out there. It’s okay to invite us to dinner parties.”
All this sort of thing does is create completely unnecessary fissures among people who are fundamentally on the same side on most important issues. The vast majority of conservative – even Tea Party – voters do not despise or resent intelligent, talented, educated people – the so-called “elites.” They do resent the condescension and “separatism” of the voices who are continually disparaging the modes of thought and expression – often in an exaggerated and highly over-simplified form – of those who are less “elite.”
And there’s no need for it. Highly intelligent guys like Douthat and Frum ought to be able to recognize and acknowledge that Hannity, Beck, and others are speaking to a different audience; their style and rhetorical devices are going to be different. But the vote of each member of that audience counts for exactly the same as that of a New York Times editorial writer – and there are a lot more of them.
The excesses and failures of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid regime have given conservatives an opportunity (which they may yet well squander) to establish a practical, durable governing center-right majority. Doing so will require building and maintaining an effective coalition not only across regions and economic classes, but across groups with different cultural affinities and education levels. Creating tensions and resentments across those groups is not helpful.
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Oct '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
IMHO, the reason we're seeing this is that we're in the midst of the "conservative"/"liberal" terminological swing. Those of us who self-identify as conservative think that the principles of small government with strictly limited, enumerated powers are conservative principles. And they might have been, around 1913 or so.
But there's not much point in denying that they aren't anymore. To "conserve" our political culture today means to conserve the political culture of FDR, LBJ, and yes, Barack Obama. The principles of small government with strictly limited, enumerated powers are actually radical principles.
That's OK, though. They were in 1776, too.
May '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
Here we go with another diatribe from one of the Davids. If Claire would give me her royal powers for a day we would never hear from Brooks and Frum again.
But I, for one, am happy that the left has settled on this new theme that the general voting public is too stupid to understand the nuance and the complexity of life in general and government in particular as this seems the best way for them to talk themselves into oblivion and irrelevance.
Sep '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
Its The Ruling Class versus The Country Bumpkins. If you have one iota of respect for Sarah Palin -- just one -- you are a bumpkin. No, ifs ands or butts.
Oct '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
One of the great ironies of politics is that even progressive liberals become conservative when it is their public policies that they want to conserve. What Steve is describing is the conflict between the established "wisdom" vs the "ancient wisdom" vs "evolutionary wisdom". Because the body politic is divided in their worldviews between these three "wisdoms" and because the "established wisdom" is not working, there is an increasingly louder public conversation between these three elements. It should be expected that the Frums and the Buffetts and the other champions of the establisment would do all they can to shout down the voices from the other perspectives. The question then becomes, which "wisdom" do you believe, and how much capital (time, money, virtue) are you willing to invest in seeing that "wisdom" become established?
Edited on Nov 17, 2010 at 9:17amJul '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
I am unaware of any conservative who writes for the NY Times.
Jun '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
Looking at the big picture: Capitalism, or formalized bargaining, is the only thing that civilizes atheism, and traditional monotheism is the only thing that civilizes capitalism. Socialism civilizes nothing. Socialism is just a simple way for the lazy to exploit the industrious.
Aug '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
It stands to reason that people who are furthest from centers of power will be most susceptible to conspiracy theories. There's an undeniable paranoid quality to Beck's rants. This is not to say his ideas are worthless or his audience is stupid.
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
"In this closed information system,...tax cuts always pay for themselves..."
Frum's argument is never made by sober supply-siders, only by sneering critics. It is a straw man so flimsy as to be utterly insubstantial. Look at the curve depicted nearby and explain how one can credibly claim that economist Art Laffer is suggesting that all tax cuts are self-financing. As a matter of mathematics alone it is self-evident that a 0% tax rate levied against economic activity will yield no tax revenue. The Laffer Curve distills common sense by postulating that a 100% tax rate will also yield $0 in tax revenue--the animating principle being that people are smart and will not freely labor for nothing. Boring economics, not magical thinking. Unfortunately, the Frum School is both boring and magical, which is how we find ourselves in our present predicament.
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
Steve: Great post. I'm grateful that you chose to write about this constant irritant, and did so graciously, but with complete candor. Frum's characterizations are absurdly unfair. Not difficult to out-debate your fictional opponent when you put ludicrous words in his mouth. Thanks, Steve, for correcting the record and converting Frum's straw man back to the reasonable man he usually is.
And, George, you too have contributed mightily to correcting the record as to Frum's misleading straw man ruse re the supply-side issue. Especially when it comes to tax issues, it seems we cannot correct liberal disinformation too much because libs never tire of issuing it. Frum may not be a full-blown liberal, but he sure does play one in print all too often as he's forever attacking conservatives.
Steve, this paragraph is priceless: The common message here is simple. It’s directed at these writers’ own overwhelmingly left-wing peer group, and it says, in bold italics, “Hey, guys, we may be more conservative than you, but at least we’re not part of that Palin-loving, Fox-watching rabble out there. It’s okay to invite us to dinner parties.”
Oct '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
I read a great book about architecture, The Most Beautiful House in the World, by Witold Rybczynski, in which he writes about the ludicrous emphasis on originality in architecture school. That to do well, students had to create buildings that were new and outside the limits of previous generations, forgetting that the purpose of all dwellings was to shelter the inhabitants from the elements. Here too we see conservatives being criticized for living in a "closed information system", disregarding the possibility that that information is correct. When even Keynes recognized the dangers of the liquidity trap, one wonders what information systems Frum is relying on.
Jul '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
I have lived near DC for five decades, and while I have never even remotely been a part of the hoi polloi, the importance of dinner parties in the Capitol city cannot be overstated. They have been the ruin of many an earnest Mr. Smith. They mix the intoxication of liquor, celebrity, flirtations, flattery, hard sell and soft sell deal making, and experienced insiderism as antidote to reformist outsiderism. And all manner of lobbyists with decades of experience in the arts of persuasion.
If a self-proclaimed conservative were not in some way defective, NYT would not touch them with a ten foot pole. In certain quarters Frum has been referred to as the egregious Frum since he used the back page of National Review to read those Conservatives who were against the coming war in Iraq out of the Conservative movement. There were a lot of principled Conservatives who considered the war a mistake and were greatly offended by Mr. Frum and, by extension, Mr. Buckley, on this account.
Edited on Nov 18, 2010 at 6:24amSep '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
Frum could easily hold his same opinions and be a moderate Democrat, but then he wouldn't get air time or column inches criticizing Republicans ...
Frum clearly has personal battles with his fellow Republicans which seem to trump all else. He's acting like a jilted girlfriend with Borderline Personality Disorder, you know, the type that says "I hate you, don't leave me".
Oct '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
David Frum's mother was a much-loved broadcaster for the CBC, Canada's government propaganda corporation. He grew up in the trough, and is coming to rest in his ancestral political home, a squishy brand of elitist socialism.
May '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
Come on, guys, don't compound the felony by adopting some of David Frum's rhetoric, except escalated. By doing so, we mindlessly react exactly the way he says we do- a self-fulfilling description.
In what galaxy is Ross Douthat a liberal? He may not be an isolationist, he may not be an Ayn Rande libertarian. Same with Frum. But Steve is careful to criticize the internecine warfare, and not escalate it on specious grounds.
We need to decide what makes a conservative. You can be a conservative without opposing all government spending, etc. People like Dennis Miller are socially liberal, Michael Medved is a "brick-and-mortar" conservative, there are national-security conservatives such as Tom Donnelly, and "stay home" conservatives like the late WFB. But all share the critical element- compromise in minor ways- but 1) they don't believe that government is the solution, and 2) they do believe that freedom and markets are the ideal.
Sometimes tactics lead one to compromise in the short run to further a long term goal, as Bush did on NCLB. We may simply have different views tactics and strategy.
But keep eyes on the doughnut, not the hole.
Sep '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
Duane Oyen "We need to decide what makes a conservative."
Who is we?
"We may simply have different views tactics and strategy."
We certainly do. Those who refuse to compromise, except as a final fall-back position, have a legitimate point of view. If someone wants to poison your food, you don't compromise by allowing a little poison with each meal.
Duane, the dispute revolves around what effect one believes the left is trying to achieve. If you believe, as I do, that there is a tipping point beyond which we can't return, then perpetual compromise toward State control is a recipe for disaster and death.
Frum has been proven spectacularly wrong in his view of the state of conservatism. and his advice was 180 degrees off. Instead of admitting, or even obliquely acknowledging this fact, Frum doubles down and becomes petulant.
Given that Frum and others like him are darlings of left-wing media outlets, one has to ask whether Frum is indeed a principled conservative (of any kind) or merely a willing tool. So I conclude Frum to be a)wrong and b) possibly toxic. Until he proves otherwise, I have no use for him.
May '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
Franco, my point is that everyone should knock off the toxic personal rhetoric and look at each issue to see if the right position furthers freedom and markets insted of government. I don't care whether someone is darling of the left or not, I care whether her is with me on a specific issue. I don't care what he writes int he paper about, say, Sarah Palin.
"Compromise" is an issue when the question is about moving the needle to the left. If the needle is moving to the right, one person's "compromise" is another one's strategy. Basically, the Buckley Rule applied to issues.
The focus right now should be on policy, not personalities.
Oct '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
Brooks and Frum in 2004:
"Everybody can see how the collapse of the socialist dream has transformed left-wing parties like the British Labor Party. But, as David Frum observes, the death of socialism has transformed the Republican Party just as much as it has transformed the parties of the left.
"For most of the 20th century, the conservative movement and the Republican Party were built to combat the inexorable spread of big government..... Anti-government sentiment was the glue that held the different factions of the American right together. And in that great cause the G.O.P. -- from Coolidge to Goldwater to Reagan -- was successful. Conservatives and libertarians defeated socialism, intellectually and then practically.
"Socialism has stopped its march. Now almost every leading politician accepts that government should not interfere with the basic mechanisms of the market system. On the other hand, almost every leading official acknowledges that we should have as much of a welfare state as we can afford. Now the debate over the role of the state takes place within much narrower parameters.
"The federal government has consumed roughly the same proportion of national wealth for three decades……"
Sep '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
Duane,
"I don't care whether someone is darling of the left or not, I care whether her is with me on a specific issue."
Well, Frum is basically for expanding government power, elitism and serial compromise with the left on contentious issues, which incidentally is why they like him so much - that and his never ending trashing of popular conservatives.
Frum remains steadfast in his support for the GWOT and supporting Israel. I agree with him on that. So what? He otherwise undermines my principles, and at the end of the day, will undermine his own positions by his questionable alliances and tactics of perpetual moderation and his apparent misunderstanding of the goals and tactics of the left.
The needle moves to the left as a default. I don't see it moving to the right until the government starts shrinking as a percentage of GDP.
May '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
Steve,
If you think that David Frum has a liberal peer group, I think you don't know what you're talking about. When I lived in Washington DC I attended several events at his house. Given that he is a former Bush Administration speechwriter, a former fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a former staffer at National Review, it didn't surprise me that in attendance were people like Laura Ingraham, Richard Perle, Byron York, Mark Krikorian, Robert Stacy McCain, Rick Brookhiser, Tucker Carlson, and other conservatives too numerous to mention.
It boggles my mind when people fail to understand that criticizing "your own team" in Washington DC is not good for one's pocketbook or social calendar.
Also notice the implicit way that you denigrate the intelligence of conservatives in your post. They're a "different" audience so we should hold their entertainers to lower intellectual standards? Sounds to me like the soft bigotry of low expectations.
Sep '10
Re: Enough With the Cheap Shots, Already
Conor,
Frum is ex NRO ex AEI and an ex Bush speechwriter. Frum's bona-fides are not the point or who attends his cocktail parties He writes now for liberal publications and appears as a token "conservative" on left wing shows for the sole reason of supporting certain memes propagated by Democrats.
Did you meet Frum at the same "Making an Effective Straw-Man Argument" course?