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| Friday, April 19, 2024 |
Miles from the Mainstream |
D.
R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor |
Leftist David Brooks
January 19, 2016 -- There should be little doubt that New York Times columnist David Brooks is no conservative. Dear LPR clicksters, a January 12 letter to The New York Times that was not published, concerning Mr. Brooks. (Indeed, LPR has a hunch that the "conservative" columnists at places like the Times, Washington Post, etc. are really crypto-leftists.) D.R. Zukerman, prop. Mr. Brooks, in vigorous attack on Ted Cruz, January 12, goes off on a tangent to assert that under the Obama administration, "America is in better economic shape that any other major nation on earth. Crime is down, Abortion rates are down, Fourteen million new jobs have been created in five years." Clearly, these are assertions to gladden the heart of the elitist publisher of The New York Times. Does Mr. Brooks disagree with the claim of Sen. Bernard Sanders, a Democrat presidential candidate, that working people are toiling longer hours for less pay, while the wealthy are getting wealthier? Is the sole statistic cited on new jobs by Mr. Brooks conclusive evidence of a glowing economy? Has there been a rise in income for the middle class? Are recipients of SNAP benefits decreasing? Indeed, are most Americans better off, today, than they were on January 19, 2009? David Brooks, I submit, is exploiting and exaggerating one economic stat for purpose of misleading his readers. Last Tuesday, January 5, David Brooks began his column with a reference to the "risk of random terror," and segued into into an assault on "populist anti-liberals", who, according to Mr. Brooks, are challenging "philosophic Enlightenment liberalism," which, for Mr. Brooks, includes "the basic belief in open society, free speech, egalitarianism...." |
The left aims at destroying what Mr. Brooks calls "philosophic Enlightenment liberalism" and he blames -- make no mistake about it -- conservatives committed to egalitarianism, free speech, the free flow of ideas and information. It can be no coincidence that David Brooks is lashing out at Ted Cruz and Donald J. Trump. A front-page story in The New York Times, January 11, suggested that Cruz and Trump are challenging the Republican establishment's "core beliefs on the economic and national security and new goals like winning over Hispanics through immigration reform." David Brooks is a leading spokesperson for the Republican establishment. Who is a member in good standing in the Republican establishment? Borrowing from a line in the movie, "Meet John Does," -- "[W]hen a cop yells, 'Stand back there, you!' he is not pointing to David Brooks and company. Insight on the establishments of the Republican -- and Democrat -- parties is found, also, in the opening line of Federalist No. 57, attributed to James Madison. These establishments seek to perpetuate their status at the top of the political ladder-- and, thereby,at the top of the economic and social ladders, as well -- by the "ambitious sacrifice of the many to the aggrandizement of the few." There is nothing progressive, egalitarian, or enlightened in this mindset, the mindset of elitism. David R. Zukerman, prop.
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