Surrounded by weak neighbors and fish

David Frum wrote something. And some may ignore his histrionic accusations of elitism and think that he has a point beyond that. He doesn't, sadly.


He doesn't waste any goddamn time. The closing sentence of the opening paragraph is such an exquisitely envious jab at a foundation of liberal thinking - diversity - that I almost want to recommend that you read the article in reverse so that your reading pleasure can have the properly cathartic terminal sensation it deserves.

With wealth comes diversity — and what is inequality but diversity in monetary form?

What a goddamn opening salvo! This is seriously like the Beethoven Fifth of ridiculous, hand-wringing articles.

Because I'm a dick, I was going to quote these next two out of context. Imagine, I was going to tell you, that a very disgruntled, hippo-joweled manchild is furiously denying the possibility of being incorrect by pounding his fists on a Risk board, throwing pieces into the air in glorious suicide before having to face the humiliation of admitting one's wrong move. I thought it would make them that much more special. But then I realized there is no need for context because they're fundamentally true. The logical pillars which Frum has so carefully erected underneath them are nothing more than pathetic attempts to gloss over that simple, damning fact.

Equality in itself never can be or should be a conservative goal.

Well, maybe if it were more like what I was talking about, he'd have said that in modern conservative policy equality can not be a goal. No really, I suppose the one that must hurt Frum the most is:

Conservatives need to stop denying reality.

Well, having said that in 2002 and 2003 would have saved several thousand American lives and several trillion dollars or whatever the hell it's up to now.


But Frum doesn't want conservatives to confront the reality of their own failed policies. In fact, the overarching theme of the article is Frum's nascent leitmotif. In 2005 it was that if two men who may or may not possess the body type right-leaning, coddled war nerds salivate over in action movies were to somehow be able to kiss and hold hands in public, then the world would be engulfed in the subsequent celestial fury. Now, as Summer 2008 fades it's the old chestnut that Democrats are elitist. To insist that the divide in this nation is political and not economic, to insinuate that the rich only vote Democratic, is a pretty spurious argument. Elitism should not be bandied about as a weapon by someone who earns his living telling people what he thinks about things in major, national publications. Period.

There's understatement! Yay!!

Republican economic management since 2001 has not yielded many benefits for middle-income America.

Again: he's on the money, folks. This reminds me of the oft passed around Soviet bit of punditry that Brezhnev's policy of alternating the color and effectiveness of the fuzzy balls (made from his own hair!) which the dour Russian premiere would stick in his ears for months at a time was rather small comfort to the out of work factory laborer, living in near medieval conditions 60 kilometers east of Moscow.

There's also denial! Or ignorance! Maybe?

Indeed, the Democratic tilt of the very richest Americans could be exploited as a powerful conservative recruiting tool.

I love the usage of the past tense here, as if exploiting the resentment of the wealthy (often, shocking as it may seem, by wealthy people themselves!) were not the central theme of his present argument.

In summary, David Frum is going to be applauded for trying to "save" his beloved ideology without dropping the immature reliance upon bitter projection and manipulative logic nor - and this is bizarre - admitting his own culpability.

Try again, I guess.