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| Tuesday, April 16, 2024 |
Miles from the Mainstream |
D.
R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor |
The "weird contradictory mentality" of David Brooks
October 19, 2015 -- New York Times columnist David Brooks, in his October 13 column "The Incompetence Caucus," delivered a vicious attack on conservatives in the House of Republicans that, "if the mind were to pursue its own course" (quoting Chief Justice John Marshall, in Gibbons v. Ogden) would be thought to refer to leftists. Indeed, by asserting that "[a] weird contradictory mentality has replaced traditional conservatism...," Mr. Brooks has provided an insightful description of the thought process that led him to write this attack. LPR here suggests that the column indicates that Mr. Brooks presently suffers from RIS -- Reality Inversion Syndrome. For example, he writes that politics "involves conversation, calm deliberation,...the capacity to listen to other points of view...." LPR is unaware that leftists are capable of listening to dissenting views. Mr. Brooks accuses conservatives of ignoring "[i]nconvenient facts." Apparently he chooses to ignore the tendency of leftists to demonize persons with other points of view, not have discussions with them. Mr. Brooks declares: "A contempt for politics infested the Republican mind." He ignores the contempt for Republicans that infests the leftist mind. The weirdest example of reality inversion for Mr. Brooks is his contention that Republican "insurgents" in the House of Representatives "can't even acknowledge democracy's legitimacy--if you can't persuade a majority of your colleagues, maybe you should accept their position. You might be wrong!" Here, Mr. Brooks ignores the "inconvenient fact" that Congress approved the nuclear "deal" with Iran by less than a majority in either the House or Senate. LPR is not aware that Democrats declared "Wait -- we don't have a majority on this. We might be wrong!" |
Brooks displays his own contempt for conservatives, asserting they are "too ill educated" to comprehend the dynamics of politics. An observation from E.E. Schattschneider, in "The Semi-Sovereign People," pp. 135-36, Holt, Rinehart and Winston soft cover (1960), might be of relevance: "It is an outrage to attribute the failure of American democracy to the ignorance and stupidity of the masses. The most disastrous shortcomings of the system have been those of the intellectuals whose concepts of democracy have been amazingly rigid and uninventive. The failure of the intellectuals is dangerous because it creates confusion in high places." For LPR, Mr. Brooks certainly seems confused. The October 13 column from Mr. Brooks could have been written by any leftist columnist at The New York Times. It is not clear to LPR whether David Brooks has decided, like David Brock some time ago, to emerge from the leftist closet or still serves as a voice for the Republican establishment. By stressing the need of political hierarchy in this column, Mr. Brooks sends conservative House "insurgents" this message from the GOP establishment: shut up and do as you're told. But, then, this seems to be the basic message of leftists to the American people.
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