I read with some surprise the Wall Street JOURNAL editorial written this week by former Reagon speechwriter and conservative Peggy Noonan.. It’s titled “Our Decadent Elites."
There may be many Peggy Noonan haters in my following crowd, but consider some of her salient points.. She starts her article like this:
America sees Washington as the capital of vacant, empty souls, chattering among the pillars. Suggesting this perception is valid is helpful in what way?
…she goes on to say this…
We’re at a funny point in our political culture. To have judgment is to be an elitist. To have dignity is to be yesterday. To have standards is to be a hypocrite—you won’t always meet standards even when they’re your own, so why have them?
…and she mentioned this:
And it is all about the behavior of our elites, our upper classes, which we define now in a practical sense as those who are successful, affluent and powerful. This group not only includes but is almost limited to our political class, Wall Street, and the media, from Hollywood to the news divisions.
They’re all kind of running America.
Some may raise eyebrows that Peggy Noonan is talking about the elites.. The wealthy.. the upper class. And doing so not in a favorable fashion.
It seems a sea change of sorts has taken place in this country. Maybe things have gotten so bad, so rich vs poor without a middle class to adsorb anything anymore, that even Peggy Noonan is decrying the unhealthy economic battle field that exists in this new, two Americas.
And the biggest shock, of sorts, is how she ends her editorial. Like this:
They’re making their videos, holding their parties and having a ball. OK. But imagine you’re a Citizen at Home just grinding through—trying to do it all, the job, the parenthood, the mowing the lawn and paying the taxes. No glamour, all responsibility and effort. And you see these little clips on the Net where the wealthy sing about how great taxpayer bailouts are and you feel like … they’re laughing at you.
What happens to a nation whose elites laugh at its citizens?
What happens to its elites?
What does happen, indeed…
