From listening to podcasts such as Econtalk with Russ Roberts, I began to understand the dangers of top-down solutions and intellectual arrogance, and about the importance of diffuse social knowledge, knowledge that is contained in social institutions but that we can’t necessarily articulate. The idea that if we just worked hard and elected the right people, we could solve long intractable problems became silly. The left appears to believe that almost every bad outcome is the result of a moral failure of society. . . .
But this ignores stubborn facts about human nature, individual differences, and incentive systems.
Thanks to a reader for the pointer.
A very well written essay. Bo gives me hope for the upcoming generation.
I concur with his destress at the abandonment of the working class by the left. The world is changing and the working class needs more than a few comments about ‘learning to code’.
During the pandemic it was the working class that saved us. Every Monday like clock work garbage trucks woke me as they made there way down the street. I watched workers reroofing houses on our street in the hot sun. Cashiers stood for hours working in grocery stores still managing to convey a smile through their masks. We’re lucky to have such people.
Agree! Dude knows how to write.
For those interested, here is the follow-up essay:
“Why I am a Conservative”
https://medium.com/@winegabo/why-i-am-a-conservative-cdad06163295
“During the pandemic it was the working class that saved us. Every Monday like clock work garbage trucks woke me as they made there way down the street. I watched workers reroofing houses on our street in the hot sun. Cashiers stood for hours working in grocery stores still managing to convey a smile through their masks. We’re lucky to have such people.”
Well said! My thoughts exactly!
Two points.
First, yes “The left appears to believe that almost every bad outcome is the result of a moral failure of society.” But they are hypocrites. Again and again, for over 60 years and in many places, I have argued with leftists to show them that their use of bad outcomes is just an excuse for justifying the resort to violence (not necessarily as the last resort) in their struggle to grab power. The case of George Floyd as a trigger of protests, riots, and looting is a recent example.
Second, Winegard writes “But this ignores stubborn facts about human nature, individual differences, and incentive systems. Some people will exploit and victimize others, not because they have been abused and left behind by a cold and unfair world, but simply because they can. And they need to be locked up. And some people will refuse to work, not be they are concerned with fair remuneration, but because they simply don’t want to. And they will be poor.” My current view of how humanity has evolved –both as individuals and as social groups– is based on the two sides of our vital force: contain the dark side (including malicious and negligent behavior) and take advantage of the bright side (btw, my view was developed before Wonder Woman endorsed it for her fight against her half-brother Ares).
I am hardly the only one to note that “rootlessness”, a popular adjective for the elite of the faction Bo has abandoned, doesn’t quite put the finger on it. The same goes for “portable identities”, a similar expression applied by David Goodhart to what was at other times called “creative class”, “symbolic analysts” etc., all sets which have very large intersections with the upper reaches of the set of people with progressive beliefs – what Moldbug used to called Brahmins. It is easy to notice that these so-called portable identities are not in fact portable to places where there is no internet, knowledge and/or media economy and the social ecosystem built around these. So one might say that there exists a distributed society, and to some extent a distributed state, that consists of all the places and social milieus to which portable identities are in fact portable. It obviously includes much of urban agglomerations all over the Western world. I suggest that the bearers of portable identities are in fact rooted in this distributed society just as much as Bo’s rural West Virginians are rooted in their rural necks in the woods. And least in America this distributed society has its historical and geographical roots in (where else?) Massachusetts.
Bo gives a fine defense of the virtues of conservatism but the idea that Trump is any kind of genuine conservative is preposterous. We have never had a President who has done more damage to longstanding conservative norms. Remember when conservatives thought that character mattered. Those were the days. Remember when conservatives thought Presidential misconduct not only could, but should, be investigated. Trump now maintains that merely investigating a sitting President is illegal and treasonous.
Trump openly fawns over the world’s most vicious dictators and brags about how he “fell in love” with Kim Jong Un. He is openly trying to undermine our most long standing military alliances with other democracies. He ran on the premise that America was no longer great anymore.
Trump is a cult of personality “I alone can fix it” authoritarian whose pernicious influence is limited only by his own laziness and incompetence. He is a foul mouthed draft dodger who demeaned John Mc Cain for being captured and is mystified by the idea that people might want to voluntarily sacrifice for their country.
He is famous for bragging about his “grab em by the pussy” sexual promiscuity which has resulted in over 20 allegations of sexual assault. If a black Democrat like Obama had done nothing more than introduce his five children by three different women to a Democratic Political Convention, conservatives would have reacted as if it was the end of the world as we know it and the death of traditional values.
Trump is famous for claiming that the huge amounts of money he has come away his multiple bankruptcies and tax frauds with merely shows how smart he is. He is famous for stiffing small contractors viewing legal contracts as merely a place to start lawsuits and renegotiations. He was a Democrat for most of his life. He was born rich and would never associate with middle class people any longer than was necessary for political reasons. The idea that he is any kind of real conservative champion of the working man is absurd.
There are lots of reasons to be appalled by the extremes of leftist woke culture but the fact is they are politically good for Trump and he is politically good for them. They need each other. Both define themselves by their opposition to each other and both have contempt for centrist Democrats like Biden.
This seems like a non sequitur. The only thing that Weingard said about Trump is that he is a boor.
Mike,
Bo said that he “almost certainly” will never vote for a Democrat again and went on to praise the political values of West Virginians. Trump’s boorishness was mentioned specifically as the excuse for Bo doing something he never wants to repeat. Is concluding from that that he is likely to vote for Trump as an expression of his purportedly conservative values the thing you are referring to as a non sequitur?
Just to cut the the chase…it comes down to the following:
Harris vs. the very strange orange man.
I’m going with the very strange orange man, despite my reservations. You are welcome to go with Harris or some 3rd party candidate (that will never be elected).
So, please convince me that I’m voting for the wrong candidate.
Hans,
Trump is actually running against Biden. Both are about the same age and if you are worried about one dying in office I’d be more worried about the one who is an obese junk food junkie who thinks that physical exercise is bad for you. Biden certainly has far more ties to Bo’s beloved blue collar workers than Trump who was one of America’s richest toddlers and judges everyone by their power and wealth.
If you are worried about senility I’d be more worried about the guy who talks about taking disinfectants internally, herd mentality ending Covid, the American Revolutionaries seizing the airports, and windmill cancer.
Historically, most Vice-Presidents do have Presidential ambitions but find out in the end the office wasn’t much help at all.
As for third party candidates, your vote won’t decide the race so you are free to vote for whoever you think is the best candidate.
As for convincing you of anything at all, I have no illusions about that.
And by the way, Harris is considered unacceptable by radical leftists because she had a stint as a fairly conventional prosecutor. When Republicans aren’t trying to pitch that as an unacceptable insult to leftists everywhere they want to paint her as some kind of Bolshevik. They really need to pick one or the other.
@Greg G
Thanks for taking the time to reply. However, I’m primarily concerned about policy.
The very strange orange man got me Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and a massive restructuring of the corporate income tax code, which significantly leveled the playing field for U.S. based income vs. foreign based income.
What would Hillary have done over the last four years? What is Harris likely to do over the next four? Green new deal? 24/7 woke? Perpetual virus lockdowns? Silly anti-police policies? No thanks!
Greg,
I don’t think Weingard would say that Trump is an expression of his conservative values. We’re deep into “lesser of two evils” territory here. Biden sure as heck isn’t an expression of anybody’s conservative values. Personally, I almost always vote for a third party for president because that’s the one time I don’t want to go with a lesser evil. And you don’t have to tell me that’s not entirely rational.
Mike,
Whether or not you and Weingard will vote for Trump as an expression of conservative values, most self-identified conservatives will. That’s one more successful con by the most successful con man in history.
Biden is the expression of the centrists last stand against the Bernie/AOC wing of the Democratic Party. That is a very consequential fight. There were the usual platform sops to the losing primary faction but nobody cares much about platforms in the end. So much so that the Republicans didn’t really even bother to write one this year beyond endorsing in advance whatever Trump does.
A Biden loss will certainly move the Democratic Party to the left by again discrediting the centrists. A Trump win will move the Republicans further in the direction of authoritarianism since he has spent most of his first term canceling anyone in the party and bureaucracy and Justice Department who said no to him on anything.
Everyone ought to care what happens inside both parties since both parties are always little more than one recession away from power in a two party system.
Greg,
I agree that some — many — conservatives have enthusiastically jumped on board the Trump train. However, many others support Trump simply because they think the Democrats would be worse. I’m inclined to that view myself, though, as I said, I’m unlikely to vote for Trump (and frankly it doesn’t much matter because my state is very unlikely to go for Trump). I really couldn’t say which group (enthusiastic vs. lesser of two evils) is bigger.
I also agree with you that a loss by Biden would likely push the Democrats even farther to the left. It took a lot of losses from the 60s to the 80s for the Democrats to finally moderate and go with Bill Clinton and the DLC. I’m just sorry that shift didn’t stick.
Greg,
Short term-wise, you’re probably right, and a Biden loss would accelerate the current trajectory of the left. But I don’t think it’s an issue any more who’s going to win that fight. Biden has mostly avoided pivoting to the center and appointed the most far-left member of the senate to VP and is overtly promising to appoint Supreme Court justices based on their race and sex. He knows which way the wind is blowing and being tugged along in the struggle. AOC (or her ilk) is the future whether Biden wins or not. Each younger generation is more extreme than the last and slower to moderate as it ages than earlier generations were.
The same may be true of populists in the GOP. They can’t win with the old ‘neoliberal’ agenda anymore, and they’re losing ground in suburbs young suburbanites are increasingly culturally ‘blue tribe’ and their most viable electoral strategies are to appeal to poor, blue collar voters that used to be at the periphery of the party.
In short, who wins or loses this election isn’t likely to change the demographic forces that fundamentally drive political shifts.
At first, I was going to joke-wonder whether writing this article might get Winegard cancelled. It turns out, he already has been cancelled:
https://quillette.com/2020/03/06/ive-been-fired-if-you-value-academic-freedom-that-should-worry-you/
“I always care about inequality and wanted to inhabit a society that shared prosperity broadly among everybody who was willing to contribute.”
The misguided notions of inequality lead to calls for economic justice. It’s only a tiny leap from that mindset to woke-ism.