That exposes Levin’s deep misunderstanding of today’s populism. It is not antinomian, it just wants laws to be made by legislatures, not executives, judges, or (worst of all) unaccountable bureaucrats. It is not mistrustful of all authority, just those authorities that have made themselves unaccountable to the very laws and bylaws they wield against others.
And it is not fundamentally cynical, just distrustful of elites with overgrown senses of entitlement and superiority.
Levin also misunderstands the culture war to which he frequently refers. He views the culture war as an epic struggle between partisans of the Left and Right that has knocked valuable institutions off the rails. Journalism, politics, academia, professional societies, religions: these institutions and others have been “deformed...into the contours of the broader culture war” to their detriment, and ours.
But institutions are not innocent bystanders in this war. They are the warriors. It is political parties, the media, corporations, and universities that have created, expanded, and sustained the culture war against tradition, evolved practice, received wisdom, and common sense. Today’s culture war is less a struggle between Left and Right than a war of Top against Bottom.
Top vs. Bottom
A review.
It is political parties, the media, corporations, and universities that have created, expanded, and sustained the culture war against tradition, evolved practice, received wisdom, and common sense.
ReplyDeleteSummarily: against Right Order.
The author forgot to mention "religion" in that list. One hopes that was just a brain-fart, as "religion" is pretty damned important.
It may just be an attempt to avoid raising the issue of the difference between his and the author’s religion. The review is by the president of “Aquinas Industries, LLC,” which suggests to me that religion is something he takes seriously.
ReplyDelete"Today’s culture war is less a struggle between Left and Right than a war of Top against Bottom."
ReplyDeleteI think it is less a *vertical* class war than a *horizontal* war between groups of people who have common identities and (perceived) interests, even though their wealth and power levels may differ greatly within these groups. The starving adjunct professor will likely identify very closely with the political/social views of the very-well-off tenured professor at an Ivy League, who in turn will likely identify closely with the views of the billionaire (but completely uneducated) Hollywood type.
The owner of a mid-sized manufacturing company, making say a million a year, may identify more closely with the views of an Appalachian coal miner than with the views of the founder of a struggling startup in a trendy industry.
This is a point I have made to many on the left, and why the left is so upset by Trump. It's that with Trump as President and McConnell as Senate Majority Leader, conservatives have a free hand to remake the Federal Judiciary. The left claim that they are creating a right-wing judiciary "that will take a generation to undo" and "favor businesses". But what is really happening is that they are creating a judiciary that will rule on what the laws say, not what the particular judge *thinks* it should say. What they are creating is the requirement that if the left wants the law changed they will have to get the legislature to do so - they will no longer have the Executive to do so through the bureaucracy nor will they have the Judiciary to remake it via judicial fiat. They will actually have to convince the representatives of the people and of the States to change the law, and (especially in the Senate) they despair of doing so.
ReplyDeleteThis is also one of the reasons why they have suddenly discovered that the Senate is "undemocratic". They essentially wish to erase State sovereignty and have one government rule uniformly in all matters over the entire country, but the Senate stands in the way of that.
avoid raising the issue of the difference...
ReplyDeletePerhaps. But the word "culture" is obviously derived from "cult." While politeness is nice, this is fundamental stuff. As a bonus, non-Talmudic Judaism and Christianity are occupants of the same cultic house, so to speak.
David, that's been one of my observations as well. The 'culture war' is between people who are largely within the same ethnic groups and socio-economic classes trying to differentiate themselves culturally from their peers by adopting what are perceived to be higher status values and lifestyles, and their efforts to maintain the perception that those values are in fact higher status.
ReplyDeleteIt may just be an attempt to avoid raising the issue of the difference between his and the author’s religion. The review is by the president of “Aquinas Industries, LLC,” which suggests to me that religion is something he takes seriously.
ReplyDeleteAs we all should. Avoiding the matter in order to avoid "raising the issue of the difference between his and the author’s religion" insults the folks of both religions as well as the rest of us by assuming that all are just too stupid to understand why a subject is being raised in such a context.
"Today’s culture war is less a struggle between Left and Right than a war of Top against Bottom."
I think it is less a *vertical* class war than a *horizontal* war....
It hasn't been established that today's culture war has to be one or the other. Cultures have many dimensions; it seems to me that today's culture war (or whatever the conflict consists) involves multiple dimensions.
Eric Hines
Here’s a bit of support for the thesis, which you can gnaw on if you like.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.campusreform.org/?ID=14255
they will have to get the legislature to do so
ReplyDeleteCongress has specialized in shifting responsibility to agencies for decades. Congress does NOT want direct responsibility for Gummint activity because they will have to defend their position--meaning they have the required integrity.
Good luck with that.
More on my above (albeit off-topic...)
ReplyDeletehttps://federalistforum.com/the-very-definition-of-tyranny/