An Ass Speaks Of A "High Horse"

If this is the quality of editorial content that we can expect from The Philadelphia Inquirer under the new ownership of Brian Tierney and Philadelphia Media Holdings, then I genuinely grieve for the future of this newspaper.

Liberals must come down off our high horses
By Chuck Williams

It took me nearly one-third of my life to come to a simple conclusion: Liberals are elitists.

I’ll breathlessly await any possible “proof” you can provide of that bone-headed accusation.

Now, maybe that's not such a big deal to some, but to me it has become quite bothersome. It's pretty clear to me now that average hard-working Americans, be they red-staters or blue-staters, can smell the stench of elitist, intellectual posturing by so-called liberals and progressives.

Proof? Substance? Care to explain? Hello??

One of the reasons why this bothers me is because I fear that it will cause us to continue to lose presidential elections.

No, what will continue to lose presidential elections is taking the advice of DLC accommodationist, triangulationist, Repug-simpatico cowards like Bob Shrum, Donna Brazile, Paul Begala, Rahm Emanuel and their ilk, as well as allowing ANYONE to believe that some ax-grinding, imaginary pundit such as yourself speaks for anything but your own pitiable self interest. What will continue to lose elections for Democrats is failing to differentiate themselves from Republicans, and you can lay the blame for that squarely at the feet of these “Third Way” numbskulls that are still living in the ‘90s.

The second thing that bothers me is that I may be one of those elitists. After all, I couldn't wait to tell the world that I had earned a Ph.D. I smile a bit on the inside every time my students and/or coworkers refer to me as "Dr. Williams."

So what’s wrong with that? You mean to tell me that you don’t feel a sense of accomplishment for what you’ve achieved? In what field, then, did you earn this degree? Basket weaving?

I'm not so sure when it became important for people to know that I knew more than they did. What I do know is that it does not serve me well with average folk; this is at the core of the problem for liberals, and, given that we make up the base of the Democratic Party, it's also at the core of why we keep losing presidential elections.

I want to make sure I understand this. You think the way for the Democrats to win elections is to allow people the comfort of thinking their sometimes prejudicial point of view is perfectly fine even when the evidence at hand suggests that they may be completely and totally wrong? You think the Democrats should just not bother in any way to communicate a position or point of view on an issue and ignore the difficult-and-sometimes-impossible task of trying to bring people around to their way of thinking?

You haven’t described how the Democrats should win elections. You’ve just described the way the Republicans DO win elections (certainly in red states, anyway).

To me, politics is about one thing: winning elections. Sure, policy and activism are wrapped up in there, too, but at the end of the day, you want to win - period!

Even when losing at times, you can set the ground work for winning eventually – kind of sad that Williams doesn’t understand that.

My opinions about all this have been influenced by working for the Democratic National Committee, regionally, and volunteering for various local elections. What I've realized is that you have two camps within the Democratic Party.

You have folks who think too much, and folks who work very hard to ensure that our candidates are elected. Don't look now, but the nerds are attempting to take over the frat house. The problem with that is, they can't help us win elections. They simply stand around sipping green tea and talking about how great it would be if everyone read Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. It's no wonder folks have begun to call us effete. We sit around, legs crossed, sporting Birkenstocks, and looking down on people who don't read as much as we do.

Wow, what a trite, demagogic cliché festival we have here, boys and girls. I don’t know what political candidate Williams allegedly worked for, but with people like the author involved, it’s no wonder the candidate lost.

So “thinking too much” doesn’t equal “working hard,” assuming of course that “thinking too much” is an actual description as opposed to an RNC-approved caricature? I’d heard the expression “concern troll” before, meaning someone who purports to do good but in reality is trying to be destructive, and I think that fits Williams to a “T”.

I’m not even sure how I can address such brainless remarks, but I’ll try by assuming that Williams, in his insulting description, is referring to lefty bloggers (and I’m definitely not trying to demean them and myself, but only trying to understand this clown of an author). If he is, then Williams should familiarize himself with people like Chris Bowers and Albert Yee, Philadelphia-area bloggers who certainly aren’t cut from Williams’ disgusting mold, but are actively involved in Philadelphia-area politics and making a difference. I would say that what they’ve managed to do would explode Williams’ childish stereotypes in short order.

And, when you really get down to the nitty-gritty, you realize that somehow we feel that all that carrying on makes us better human beings than everyone else. That our values and morals are better than others. This is what really annoys folks about us.

I’ve worked in different political campaigns myself, Chuck. Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but I’ve manned phone banks, handed out flyers at supermarkets, attended township meetings, canvassed locally, and put up road placards in support of Democrats in the past, and I haven’t encountered anyone that fits Williams’ description. I’ve worked with wives, husbands, divorced mothers, single fathers, college students, high school kids…you name it. Sure, I’ve encountered different people with different, sometimes strong-willed personalities, but we were all united for a common cause. We may have been a bit pushy at times with our opinions (and seriously, Republican operatives aren’t?), but the reason why is because WE WANTED OUR CANDIDATES TO WIN, and we knew to back off ultimately and let the voter decide when all was said and done. And the period of time I’m talking about is within the last 15 years or so.

What I've also realized is that this is a character flaw, and, that this does more to divide America than any of Patrick Buchanan's hate-filled rhetoric.

As far as I’m concerned, this just revealed Williams as a Repug acolyte. So-called liberal elitism is worse than Pat Buchanan’s “Fortress America” rhetoric? You’ve got to be kidding me.

Folks who don't read six national newspapers a day hold as much value and worth to our society as those who do. These folks raise families, work very hard for a living, and spend time thinking about ways to better their quality of life. They know what will serve their best interests, and they know what will not.

These are the first words in this entire column that I actually agree with. And I have news for Williams – the vast majority of people who support Democratic candidates fit this description.

If the liberal elite would stop writing and chatting so much about how this country should be, they would learn more about how it is. We need to come out of the library from time to time and actually put our ears to the ground. We will find that the blue-staters are looking for leaders who will represent them, even if they don't have college degrees or sip imported beers.

Assuming Williams actually has a serious point to make – which is highly unlikely – it would be nice if he could provide ONE SINGLE ANECDOTE OR EXAMPLE to support these preposterous, ridiculous statements.

At one point, that was the Democratic Party; today it is not. People were right to leave us.

Really? So the Democrats have blown it on the issues all of this time? Once again…any proof? Any substantive critique concerning an issue where a Democratic candidate took a stand and completely blew it? No, of course not. See, that would require the hard work of actual research and analysis as opposed to childish name calling and caricature.

We gave them nothing to hold on to. We are no longer the party of inclusion; it only looks that way on billboards and campaign advertisements.

So then, Williams believes that the Democrats are the party of division? Tell me then, when was the last time you heard about the Democrats declaring a “culture war,” or a “war on values,” or a “war on Christianity” or some such other nonsense? The only time I ever heard about the Democrats declaring a war – and I’m talking domestic policy here – is when LBJ declared a “war on poverty,” which, though it didn’t completely achieve its goal, was still pretty damn noble all the same.

If we do not address this issue soon, we will need more than a Florida recount to make this party relevant again.

The moral of the story, then, is to never educate yourself, utterly pander to the voters, and reduce everything to simple slogans. I guess that’s how Williams believe politics and government is supposed to work.

I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or throw up.

By the way, to tell Williams what you think of this column, click here.