It doesn't matter where you live or how you were brought up, it's a belief system. And President Obama, if he isn't a member of that group, badly wants to be.
David Brooks wrote a really interesting article today that went from George Washington to Sanford to Jacko to Palin: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/opinion/07brooks.html?_r=1&em There's a reason he's my favorite pundit. He really puts his finger on the pulse of what bothers me so much about modern politics. Al Franken, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Clinton, Biden, Dubya....there just seems to be a lack of basic dignity in politics. It's a reality show where the most outrageous actions are all that seem to matter, nevermind that most of us are actually pretty centrist, and try to live our own lives with at least a modicum of dignity.
Dunno if I agree about it being a "belief system". Betty Lou in East Bumfuck, Texas, is an eastern elite if she believes in certain things? I guess that's a ok definition, but not the one I'd use. Nor do I see any real evidence that Obama hungers to be an eastern elite. Would be a weird career choice for someone with that obsession to leave wall street for community organizing in Chicago. Unless, of course, being an eastern elite is just a non-observable state of mind and doesn't have any bearing on what you do, where you live, or anything else in the physical world. barfo
I'd call Jay Rockefeller a member of the northeastern elite, and he moved to WVA to work with the poor. What difference does it make where he lived?
If his name was Jay Reynolds and he'd moved to WV from Tucson, would he still be a member of the northeastern elite? barfo
What exactly is the "northeastern elite belief system"? Is it just a fancier way of saying "progressive with money"? Sort of like you are batshit crazy, except if you happen to have money you are "eccentric"?
If he were educated at one of a select group of institutions, held a certain set of beliefs and went to WVA to further his political career, then yes.
I'll take a shot: 1. There are a certain coterie of educational institutions that matter. 2. That it's more important to be thought well of by certain groups than by the average American. 3. That only the largest American cities matter. The rest is flyover country. 4. That it's important to be liked by Western Europe; that their populace is more enlightened than ours. 5. That the "riff-raff" are incapable of ruling themselves. 6. Than an "elite" exists in the first place. I'd like Jeff Foxworthy to take a shot at this description: "If you (insert observation here), you might be a northeastern elite."
Well, there are a certain coterie of educational institutions that matter more. I mean, I know Sarah Palin wandered through there, but the University of Idaho kind of sucks. I've been there. I don't really care much about "average American", because it's pretty hard to define. Is Joe The Plumber representative of "average America"? Because I think that's a little demeaning to a lot of Americans. What is average America"? Is it white? How much money does it make? I do, however, think it's nice to be thought well of by certain groups. I like fellow Blazer fans to like me. I like people living on my street to like me. I like it when smart people like me, because that means I might be smart. Well, the largest American cities do matter more. After all, that's where more people live, more money is made, most companies are based, etc. The founders seem to agree, as the President, House and Supreme Court all seem weighted to ward the big populations, while only the Senate is a counterbalance. I live in a flyover state, though, and I've noticed a lot of liberal eastern rich-types have been moving here lately. Yuck! Who needs to be liked! Man, it's horrible that all those ***gy effeminate pussy northern eastern elites are so bigoted. Wait, my irony detector is going on overload! I sometimes doubt we are. Democracy is the worst form of government, except all the others. Don't they? There are elite businessman, sports stars, prostitutes, hair stylists, educators, lawyers....isn't the idea of "elite" kind of the basis of competition (and capitalism?) Is "elite" shorthand for "famous person I disagree with"? Yeah, Jeff Foxworthy has really done a lot to elevate the discussion about rednecks. What America could really use is a whole new batch of stereotypes. That'll help.
We should have a govt. small enough that someone mediocre is ideal to lead us. Besides, who wants to be "led" besides sheep and lemmings?
We don't have an organization of 300M people, we have a post office and a federal court system (most cases are state court cases, FWIW), a mint, a patent office, a highway system, and a military. We have 50 governments running the states. It's pretty clear that even a big state like California can't run itself well for 30M people. But it's better than the Feds. I can drive to Sacramento in a few hours, it's a bitch and expensive to get to D.C. You know, to address my grievances to my government. Plus the state governments are much closer to the people of the state, have the peoples'/state's interests closer at heart, etc. It's also one less set of middlemen to scim off the tax take.
And a few zillion other things. The FBI. The EPA. The FDA. The FAA. Etc. Yes, we have that too. And some of us have county governments, and city governments too. You do that a lot? Dunno if you've heard, but after they invented the postal service, they invented the internets. You don't actually have to go to DC anymore. Didn't know this was a federal vs. state question. Why stop there? Why not cities? Why not every man for himself? Hell, why not let your left hand act independently of your right hand? What do you need a brain for, anyway? That's just unnecessary government. Your limbs won't be truly free as long as your brain controls them. barfo
