A Politics that Fights for Commoners
this is not that hard
There’s a lot of flapdoodle going on now about what conservatism should be. There are arguments between Michael Anton and Paul Gottfried about Natural Law and Natural Right. There is National Review and the NeverTrumpists, bless their hearts. And the Zman is twitting about “What is National Conservatism” run by Yoram Hazony and funded by Peter Thiel. And so on.
Come on fellahs. This is not that hard.
Whatever “The Thing” is and whatever we call it, is needs to be a cultural movement and a political movement of, by, and for the ordinary Commoner, the middling sort of person.
Our present politics is the politics of the Educated Class, and it operates on the conceit — the Big Lie if you like — that it is all for the benefit of the Nobodies, the workers, the oppressed of every race and gender. Only, of course, as these things tend to go, it has become all about the needs, the culture, the nobility, the self-regard of the Educated Class, the Somebodies.
But whatabout the people in between the Somebodies and the Nobodies, people we might call the Anybodies?
As I look at it, the regime of the Educated Class is founded upon the following principles.
Educated People know what is good for other people, whether middle-class racist-sexist-homophobe deplorables or lower-class helpless victims.
Educated People call their ideas Justice.
Educated People propose to implement their ideas with politics and government.
Educated People will be in charge of the design and implementation of all ideas; others need not apply.
Anyone that disagrees with the Educated Class is a racist-sexist-homophobe, or other suitable pejorative.
Of course, the Educated Class has it all wrong. Let’s critique the five points above.
Nobody knows what is good for other people.
Everybody thinks their ideas are just.
The only things that politics can do is fight the enemy; the only thing that government can do is tax and spending and regulate.
Yes. Every ruling class thinks of itself as the Best People.
Pejorative comes from the Latin, pejorare, to make things worse.
We can do better. And whatever we do we must think about what is best for the ordinary Commoner middle class. Rule One is that we don’t know what is best for the ordinary Commoner middle class. And that means that the ordinary Commoner middle class will not be ordered about by the ruling class but organizing their lives and the lives of their loved ones without supervision from above. That means that the ordinary Commoner middle class will have the power to make a mess of things, and the responsibility to put things right.
So I believe that the new Ruling Class, gathered together from all the four corners of what used to be called conservatism, should operate on the following principles.
The new ruling class tries to help the Commoners discover what is best for them.
It’s not about Justice, but about discovery.
It will mean a lot less politics, because forget the enemy thing, and forget gubmint loot and plunder.
The Commoners should have the power to direct their own lives.
Non-Commoners may not like what the Commoners want, but that’s life.
My overall idea is that American society should be reformed for the benefit of people who are not that interested in power. That means we need a lot less of the Educated Class, that believes in power to the educated; and a lot less of the Victim Class, that believes in power to the people.
So, dial down the power, because power is only good for taking the fight to the enemy. And we humans are social animals: social, as in
pleasant companionship with friends or associates
the interaction of the individual and the group
tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others
living and breeding in more or less organized communities especially for the purposes of cooperation and mutual benefit
I got all those meanings from the dictionary.
Let’s all think about society that is social, based upon the bullet points above. It’s not that hard.