aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Why they hate us, again
My Defending Klein post below reminded me to go back and revisit my Why They Hate Us post from May 17.
In it I quoted J. M. Balkin’s Populism and Progressivism as Constitutional Categories:
What is more difficult for many academics to recognize is that progressivism has its own distinctive dangers and defects. Unfortunately, these tend to be less visible from within a progressivist sensibility. They include elitism, paternalism, authoritarianism, naivete, excessive and misplaced respect for the “best and brightest,” isolation from the concerns of ordinary people, an inflated sense of superiority over ordinary people, disdain for popular values, fear of popular rule, confusion of factual and moral expertise, and meritocratic hubris.
And there you see the basis for right wing populist hatred of liberals. And it’s not altogether untrue, is it? Certainly, those of us who argue from that perspective should be able to recognise and deal with the fact that this is how we are perceived by many people and try to find ways to allay those concerns. The problem is that it’s quite difficult to do.
This I agree with wholeheartedly. I’ll want to read more, but it hints at the direction I want to take in my efforts as a liberal in rural Georgia who intends to, one by one, turn this Red state Blue!
For starters I don’t use terms like “wing nuts” (well, just this once) or any other name calling. I try to treat the views and ideas of others with reason and respect, and expect that they’ll treat me and mine likewise. So far, it’s working for me.
