Wherein I Actually Quote David Brooks

by Chris Bowers [courtesy of Open Left - Front Page]

One of my longest running arguments is that Republicans have turned non-whites and non-Christians into Democrats through not-so-subtle, long-term messaging about the danger that non-whites and non-Christians pose to America. I wrote about this earlier today, arguing that the overt bigotry we are now seeing at McCain rallies isn't new. The message has been clear to non-whites and non-Christians for some time now, which is why they collectively vote 3-1 in favor of Democrats. And given that we are talking about 40% of the electorate here, such trends aren't a statistical fluke. People aren't dumb. They know when they aren't wanted and / or are being scapegoated for the country's problems.

In his column today, which I am surprised to find myself quoting, David Brooks actually expands upon this point, and shows that it applies to entire professions, not just ethnic and religious demographics (more in the extended entry):

What had been a disdain for liberal intellectuals slipped into a disdain for the educated class as a whole. The liberals had coastal condescension, so the conservatives developed their own anti-elitism, with mirror-image categories and mirror-image resentments, but with the same corrosive effect.(...)

The political effects of this trend have been obvious. Republicans have alienated the highly educated regions - Silicon Valley, northern Virginia, the suburbs outside of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Raleigh-Durham. The West Coast and the Northeast are mostly gone.

The Republicans have alienated whole professions. Lawyers now donate to the Democratic Party over the Republican Party at 4-to-1 rates. With doctors, it's 2-to-1. With tech executives, it's 5-to-1. With investment bankers, it's 2-to-1. It took talent for Republicans to lose the banking community.

Conservatives are as rare in elite universities and the mainstream media as they were 30 years ago. The smartest young Americans are now educated in an overwhelmingly liberal environment.

Now, I disagree with Brooks about coastal liberals condescending to the rest of the country. I think that is a ridiculous point that has little basis in political reality, given that the Democratic Party basically spent the last twenty years doing everything it possibly could to appeal to the people who felt condescended toward. The supposed condensation in question feels more like my time as a vegetarian, when many people I met somehow seemed offended by the fact that I was a vegetarian. Some people just get offended at difference and otherness, and assume that the difference and otherness is somehow mocking them or looking down on them by its very existence. I am pretty sure that is the case here.

Either way, I like Brooks' basic point. It isn't just non-whites and non-Christians who have gotten the message from Republicans and conservatives, but also entire regions and entire professions. It has been made perfectly clear to most teachers, lawyers, scientists, tech employees, and the entire population of the northeast that they aren't wanted in the Republican Party. In fact, not only are they not wanted, but they are actually the supposed cause of the problems facing the country. And, people not being stupid, after a while they get the message and start supporting the opponents of those who seek to scapegoat and disempower them.

These messages have been clear for a long time. The only thing that is changing now is that the scapegoated demographics have become a majority in America. Republicans have scapegoated minorities to the point where they are now a political minority political party. Just deserts.