----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 5:44
PM
Subject: [TruthTalk] fyi~g : D.
Brooks/NYT on the current 'civil war'
It's been said that every society has two
aristocracies.
The members of the aristocracy of mind produce ideas,
and
pass along knowledge. The members of the aristocracy of
money
produce products and manage organizations. In our
society these two groups
happen to be engaged in a bitter
conflict about everything from S.U.V.'s to
presidents. You
can't understand the current bitter political
polarization
without appreciating how it is inflamed or even driven
by
the civil war within the educated class.
The percentage of
voters with college degrees has doubled
in the past 30 years. As the
educated class has grown, it
has segmented. The economy has produced a
large class of
affluent knowledge workers - teachers, lawyers,
architects,
academics, journalists, therapists, decorators and so on
-
who live and vote differently than their equally
well-educated but
more business-oriented peers.
Political scientists now find it
useful to distinguish
between professionals and managers. Professionals,
mostly
these knowledge workers, tend to vote for Democrats. Over
the
last four presidential elections professionals have
supported the
Democratic candidate by an average of 52
percent to 40, according to Ruy
Teixeira and John Judis,
authors of "The Emerging Democratic Majority."
Managers, who tend to work for corporations,
brokerage
houses, real estate firms and banks, tend to vote
Republican.
Thanks to their numbers, George Bush still won
the overall college-educated
vote.
This year the Democrats will nominate the
perfect
embodiment of an educated-class professional. John
Kerry
graduated from law school and plays classical guitar.
President
Bush, however, went to business school and drives
a pickup around his
ranch. So we can watch the conflict
between these two rival elites play
itself out in almost
crystalline form.
This educated-class
rivalry has muddied the role of
economics in shaping the political
landscape. Republicans
still have an advantage the higher you go up the
income
scale, but the correlation between income and voting
patterns is
weaker. There is, for example, this large class
of affluent professionals
who are solidly Democratic.
DataQuick Information Systems recently put out
a list of
100 ZIP code areas where the median home price was
above
$500,000. By my count, at least 90 of these places - from
the
Upper West Side to Santa Monica - elect liberal
Democrats.
Instead, the contest between these elite groups is
often
about culture, values and, importantly, leadership skills.
What
sorts of people should run this country? Which virtues
are most important
for a leader?
Knowledge-class types are more likely to value
leaders who
possess what may be called university skills: the ability
to
read and digest large amounts of information and discuss
their way through
to a nuanced solution. Democratic
administrations tend to value
self-_expression_ over
self-discipline. Democratic candidates - from Clinton
to
Kerry - often run late.
Managers are more likely to value
leaders whom they see as
simple, straight-talking men and women of faith.
They prize
leaders who are good at managing people, not just ideas.
They
are more likely to distrust those who seem overly
intellectual or
narcissistically self-reflective.
Republican administrations
tend to be tightly organized and
calm, in a corporate sort of way, and
place a higher value
on loyalty and formality. George Bush says he doesn't
read
the papers. That's a direct assault on the knowledge class
and
something no Democrat would say.
Many people bitterly resent it
when members of the other
group hold power. Members of the knowledge
class tend to
think that Republican leaders are simple-minded,
uncultured
morons. Members of the business class tend to think
that
Democratic leaders are decadent elitists. In other words,
along
with the policy and cultural differences that divide
the groups, there are
disagreements on these crucial
questions: Which talents should we admire
most? Which path
to wisdom is right? Which sort of person deserves
the
highest status?
That's the kind of stuff that really gets
people riled up.
This contest between rival elites certainly
doesn't explain
everything about our politics. But with their
overwhelming
cultural and financial power, these elite groups do
frame
the choices the rest of the country must face. If not for
the
civil war within the educated class, this country would
be far less
polarized.
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