Much of the discussion here misses the thrust of Haidt's "structurally stupid" model. Party X could have an utterly insane platform, but still not be structurally stupid, if it allowed its politicians and members to dissent from portions of that platform. Party Y could have a perfectly reasonable platform, but still be structurally stupid, if it required rigid and unquestioning adherence to every plank from all of its members. The "structurally" part doesn't mean that the platform is smart or stupid, but that the party itself is missing the element of internal dissent and criticism that could lead it to better ideas.
My main criticism of Haidt's position on this is its application. Pointing out that two Senators can dissent from the party leadership -- Senators Sinema and Manchin are the obvious cases -- doesn't mean that the Democratic party allows dissent generally. Let a Democrat say that he's pro-life, disagrees with affirmative action, or thinks believes that society needs to support male-female marriage specifically, and see how long he remains in good standing.
But let's suppose he's thinking about the factionalization in the Democratic party, such as the Squad vs. Speaker Pelosi, which might be seen as making it not "structurally stupid". Such factionalization also exists in the GOP, and is so deep-seated that the term "RINO" (Republican in Name Only) has been around for years to pinpoint it, long before Donald Trump fragmented the party further. Compare Romney and Boebert. If the factionalization of the Democratic party represents the dissent that could possibly make the Democratic party smarter, doesn't the factionalization of the Republican party represent the same thing on their side?
This leads me to think that Haidt knows his own party well but the opposing party only through stereotypes, which necessarily wipe out important distinctions -- and that suggests to me further that Haidt is living in a bubble that doesn't let in relevant information about the Republican party. I don't know him well enough to say, but it's possible that he has a personal level of structural stupidity that blocks out important information, thereby preventing him from seeing the full picture, and, because he's blocking that information out, he may _never_ see the full picture. I could hope otherwise, but that's what it looks like to me.
Glenn - I'm here because you and John McWhorter had an honest discussion regarding Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. Trayvon's death was tragic. The truth is out there, but the truth does not fit the current political agenda.
Glenn - what's up? Why do you give Jonathan Haidt a platform? Looks like you two had fun per the photo. Twice. This guy blames social media (and Republicans) for everything that's wrong in America - polarization, bullying, misinformation, Donald Trump, cancel culture, conspiracy theories, teenage depression – the list goes on and on. One can agree to a certain extent, but he's OTT.
Wait. I get it. Clicks.
“How Diverse Should Viewpoint Diversity Be?” received 44 likes and 85 tweets, er, comments. Whereas, “Turning Pain into Purpose” with the gracious Sylvia Bennett-Stone received only 9 comments (clicks). The disparity between what Haidt emits versus the inspirational work of Sylvia Bennett-Stone is not even close. America needs to hear more about Sylvia Bennett-Stone's work than Jonathan Haidt's rhetoric.
It’s over a year since Substack has become home to The Glenn Show. I'm a newbie on Substack just trying to figure out this thingy. To me, Substack appears to be just another form of Twitter. Your Q&A session is for subscribers only, but perhaps you could gently persuade TGS’s Creative Director Nikita Petrov to chime in now and then with the unpaid (cheap) commentors, like me. Otherwise the comments are nothing but a Twitter thread. Disappointing.
Perhaps you can secure former POTUS Obama for a podcast on The Glenn Show. The mansion in Hawaii should be done. You could cross-examine him, asking:
How many in this generation are we willing to lose to poverty or violence or addiction? How many? Yes, we need more cops on the street. Yes, we need fewer guns in the hands of people who shouldn't have them. Yes, we need more money for our schools, and more outstanding teachers in the classroom, and more afterschool programs for our children. Yes, we need more jobs and more job training and more opportunity in our communities. But we also need families to raise our children. We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception. We need them to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child - it's the courage to raise one.
While I appreciate Dr. Haidt's perspective on many things, I disagree with almost everything he says here.
Lets start with the notion of "structural insanity". The hypothesis that organizations which lack moderate voices acts in a stupid or insane way is a reasonable one, but the evidence that he provides that the congressional GOP is structurally insane - the reaction of the GOP to Donald Trump's conduct pertaining to the 2020 election - is actually rather bad.
First, what substantive actions does he expect Republicans in Congress to take to "hold Donald Trump to account"? Trump is not currently president. He is a private citizen, and our Constitution is (I think) fairly clear that it is not the job of Congress to go after private citizens.
Second, the idea that Trump's conduct around the 2020 election was beyond the pale, and thus in need of some for of censure, depends upon a simplistic take of that election that is out of step with the facts. I'm not saying Joe Biden didn't win, or that Trump handled the outcome perfectly, but there are enough serious critiques of the way in which the election proceeded that it's not crazy to doubt its results. The level of (publicly admitted!) coordination to prevent him from winning reelection means that *any* Republican presidential candidate is going to have to take election "fortification" seriously.
There are other areas, such as how the GOP of the present compares with its past, or the role of the political center, which I disagree but would need to ask him questions to better clarify the the nature of the disagreement.
I believe, even as a sympathetic third party, that Haidt really needs to explain "structural stupidity" in greater detail. Even after re-reading his article in the Atlantic, I am unclear how he defines the term. What does Haidt mean by contending that the "moderates" have been shot? I say that as one individual, a Republican Party member, and as a very unhappy Trump voter. Is Candace Owen a moderate? Is Tucker a moderate? Is Ron Johnson a moderate? And, Yes, I am assuming that "Lindsey" strives to even considered as an authentic Republican.
I am not a "Never Trumper," but I observe the obvious: Trump is shallow, intellectually unsophisticated, narrow-minded, and generally, uncouth. Trump does not have the intellect to replace, negate, and counter the resident members of the Swamp. Trump followed several progressively conservative policies, but he was defeated by the swap on so many levels and in so many arenas. Among the most egregious was his failure to share with John Solomon (and the press) the declassified documents that proved his innocence about Russiagate. Trump caved to Gina Haspel and the CIA. He remained clueless about Fiona Hill and others within his policy advisor group, a strategic blunder.
I do not know whether the election was "stolen" from Trump. Too many factual assessments remain unanswered about several states' election procedures. To me the question remains: How can any election be certified if there is no consensus about the final vote tally?
I respect much of Haidt’s work but some of his comments here about Republicans seem very wide of the mark to this political independent. He calls the party “insane” and says “There are no moderates left [in it].” But it is not the Republican Party that is facilitating and encouraging illegal immigration on a massive scale never seen before. And it is not the Republican Party that has thrown aside the 1964 Civil Rights Act and is replacing it with the overweening illegalities, hypocrisies and jargon of the “Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity” juggernaut. Not that the Republican Party looks all that great except by comparison with a Democratic Party in greater disrepair than at any time over at least half a century.
Perhaps Haidt’s vision of “moderate” corresponds to the agenda of the Anti-Defamation League, now run by Jonathan Greenblatt, a former operative in the Obama administration.
A bit more than a year ago I began learning about the degree to which a hyperpartisan and unethical ADL had penetrated K-12 public education systems in San Diego and elsewhere via its “No Place for Hate” program. It was a surprise to see how many people even in the Jewish community had low regard for the modern day ADL. My findings were published on the website of Californians for Equal Rights: Anti-Defamation League: A Compilation of Information on Its Political Nature (https://cferfoundation.org/get-adl-out-of-schools/). This was expanded, with some minor editorial changes, just a week ago. It consists of a critique of the Coordinators Handbook for ADL’s NPFH programs plus, without comment, excerpts from 106 articles about or mentioning ADL. A bit of a slog, even if you don’t go beyond the excerpts.
I’m pretty sure Just because the democrats have one moderate doesn’t make them moderate. They’ve gone complete insane imo. They lost me at all white people are racists and men can be women if they feel like it..... I’m done. P.S. oh and that gender affirming care for kids is safe...(it’s not and it most likely sterilizes them)...that is the most evil thing any party can stand for and the current administration stands for it!!! Chew on that Jon...
I’ve learned a lot from and am admirer of Jonathan Haidt. But I’m not sure his analysis of the difference between the parties, “structurally”, or in terms of their operational sanity works, even when limited to the federal level as he does. What’s the difference between a Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski in one party, versus a Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema in another? Both parties have purged their moderates both as retaliation for not complying with leadership and as part of the structural polarization of having to pander to more radical primary electorates. Of course this is most pronounced where districts can be Gerrymandered, but it’s still happening statewide in US Senate races, too. And not just because Trump, the singular bogeyman, is playing kingmaker in primaries (e.g. in Georgia he failed; in Ohio, Rob Portman’s replacement would have likely always been well to the populist right).
Re: Trump’s worst and most reckless moment, Mike Pence, who’d been derided as a pushover, did stand up to him. It’s in the Democrats’ interests to portray an entire party gone crazy, entirely enthralled by a madman would-be despot, and consumed at the base by Q-anon conspiracy theories and support for “insurrection”. Even Dems running the literal show were dead set on only amplifying and showcasing two Republicans who have become close political allies of theirs and who are distinguished by their own personal monomania re: destroying Trump. As much as Dems have suddenly fallen in love with her and try to promote her as a paragon political virtue, the rest of us know we’re still looking at Liz Cheney, scion of an actually far scarier right-wing Republican, and standard-bearer of a remorseless, relentless Neocon branch of the party enraged to have been mocked (finally!) and displaced, supplanted by Trump. I don’t even know how to begin to evaluate Adam Kinzinger, except to note his district is just far enough outside Chicago’s burbs to elect a moderate Republican, and his views on military intervention everywhere, all the time, seem to be in close alignment with Liz Cheney’s. There is a core point here I don’t dispute: yes, too many Republican leaders saw what Trump did to his 2016 primary opponents, the intensity of support he could command, and cravenly got on board with many of his excesses.
"Viewpoint Diversity" is a term perhaps useful as a counterpoint term to "Racial Diversity," but also is problematic for the same reason that the bare bones "Diversity" is. The administration of my university, like that of many others, is always paying lipservice to "viewpoint diversity." but then they have a hissyfit whenever some antisemitic or white nationalist flyer is distributed or posted on campus. They are so scarce , that having more antisemites or white nationalists on campus would definitely increase campus "viewpoint diversity." So either our prez doesn't understand English or she actually opposes "viewpoint diversity," contrary to her claims.
The problematic word is "diversity" almost all uses of which in political contexts are hypocritical and code for "forget the 1964 Civil Rights Act."
Ron Wakabayashi, former director of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, was one of the rare truth-tellers: "Politicians like to say that diversity is our greatest strength. That is b.s. Diversity simply is. The core question is: How do we extract its assets while minimizing its liabilities?"
Dr. Haidt, love ya man. But you call the Democratic Party the party with moderates. The plural is wrong. Who among the Democrats VOTES with Joe Manchin and the Republicans? How many Blue Dog Democrats remain? How many who are pro Second Amendment or pro life? The Democratic Party used to have space for such people. They don’t anymore.
I don't view Trump as a fascist. 75M people voted for Trump because they thought he was best capable of ending rampant corruption; they thought he would reduce federal subsidies to MNC's, close the double dutch tax loopholes that increase centralization of industry, and other entry barriers which not only create obstacles to form new businessses but also force mom and pops out of business. In some ways, Trump resembles the "old right". I know that is a bit of a stretch, because the man himself subscribes to no philosophical view, but his instincts are more aligned to Rose Wilder lane, Garett Garrett, Mises, Hayek, and others who sought the risk of liberty over the subjugation of mechanized order. I know Glenn isn't a fan of the austrians, and the classical view of economics, but I don't equate laizze faire and community power over centralized power as "radical" or "fascist". There is no doubt that certain institutions, like the WEF and other supranationals, seek to centralize power away from local representatives. I think Trump's attack on these institutions are valid. When he attacks the Supreme Court, I don't like it. I wish he would refrain from that behavior, but you have take the good with the bad. And sadly, we only have two choices.
People keep saying stupid stuff like Biden's a moderate. He sure hasn't governed as one. He tried to push through 3.5 TRILLION build back better. That's not moderate.
He's trying to get rid of the title 9 due process protections that just got put back in, that's not moderate. Or trying to push woke BS in education
He nominated a women for the Supreme freaken court that can't answer what a women is??? That's not freaken moderate.
Being slightly to the right of AoC or Sanders doesn't make you a moderate.
You might not think the Democratic party is trying to do all these terrible things. But tens of millions of Americans disagree,
“So let's start with the right. On the right, the Republican Party, I believe, has become structurally stupid. It is the insane party, much more so than the Democrats.”
Uhh. No, the Democratic Party is more insane than the Republican Party( although I won’t mind if someone argues they are equally insane). This is very aptly demonstrated by Democrats, such as Haidt who seem to be incapable of seeing the utter lunancy and hypocrisy of many of the core narratives that the Democratic Party pushes. The biggest one of being that the Democratic Parry is the party of “democracy” and civil rights, and somehow has always been so. Seriously it’s on their fuking website that they have been fighting for civil rights for 200 years: when they were fighting a war for slavery they were apparently fighting for civil rights according to their official timeline. The fact that people like Haidt don’t see this as a problem but are obsessed with the demagoguery of Trump is obscene. The only reason the Democratic Party currently has a majority support from black people is because of pure demagoguery and deceit.
Good gawd, can people like Glenn please push back more on “liberals” who have this love affair with the Democratic Party? It’s the party that fought a war to to keep its slaves and now is the party that wants Vietnamese immigrants to pay reparations to black people for the crimes of the Democratic Party. Why? Cuz demagoguery.
And the constant bullshit whining about Trump being delusional about the election outcome is completely bonkers given the 4 years that the Democratic Party took trying to delegitimize the 2016 election. It’s just stupid. Which is why people who are obsessed about it are clearly “insane.”
Haidt isn’t stupid. He is clearly intelligent in the sense his iq is probably fairly high. But he fails to apply that iq equally to his faction. Which is why he can call the Republican Party insane (whatever) but think that the party that supports the notion that men and women can change their sex based on their feelings isnt. Or he can complain about Republican demagoguery but see nothing wrong with a party that once fought for slavery and argued in court that they have no obligation to run fair democratic elections wearing the banner of anti racism and democracy. So much partisan garbage from people who talk so highly about objectivity and not being biased.
I wrote a thorough and explicit essay on the blaring deceit that the Democratic Party has not reckoned with. I really wish Glenn would pass it along.
And can political “experts” please stop using the language of “left” and “right” to label various political perspectives. Possible political philosophy isn’t a binary. Although some political philosophies definitely construct the world in such a way, such as Haidt’s apparently, but it’s wrong.
It just so happens that one of the biggest sins of many Democrats these days is to label anyone who breaks from whatever insane orthodoxy they belong to as being “right wing.” Oh you don’t like marx- right winger. Oh you don’t think men can become women if they alter their sexual organs and take hormones? Right winger. Oh you didn’t vote for Biden? Right winger. Oh you don’t think climate change is apocalyptic? Putin lover. Oh and you are an atheist and don’t believe in gender norms? Wait a second... brain shuts down.
Seriously, the depth and nuance of thought that I witness from our political “elite” is not elite at all. It is pathetically amateur. Probably because it is just profitable *demagoguery*.
Perhaps Haidt’s biggest delusion is that his party is “center left”. If his party ruled this country, and there was no political resistance, in short time everyone would be required to wear pronoun pins, black people wouldn’t have to pass exams to get their medical license, and their would be insufficient energy production to fuel electric vehicles. Because the “center” of his party is rapidly moving to the “left” beneath his feet.
Much of the discussion here misses the thrust of Haidt's "structurally stupid" model. Party X could have an utterly insane platform, but still not be structurally stupid, if it allowed its politicians and members to dissent from portions of that platform. Party Y could have a perfectly reasonable platform, but still be structurally stupid, if it required rigid and unquestioning adherence to every plank from all of its members. The "structurally" part doesn't mean that the platform is smart or stupid, but that the party itself is missing the element of internal dissent and criticism that could lead it to better ideas.
My main criticism of Haidt's position on this is its application. Pointing out that two Senators can dissent from the party leadership -- Senators Sinema and Manchin are the obvious cases -- doesn't mean that the Democratic party allows dissent generally. Let a Democrat say that he's pro-life, disagrees with affirmative action, or thinks believes that society needs to support male-female marriage specifically, and see how long he remains in good standing.
But let's suppose he's thinking about the factionalization in the Democratic party, such as the Squad vs. Speaker Pelosi, which might be seen as making it not "structurally stupid". Such factionalization also exists in the GOP, and is so deep-seated that the term "RINO" (Republican in Name Only) has been around for years to pinpoint it, long before Donald Trump fragmented the party further. Compare Romney and Boebert. If the factionalization of the Democratic party represents the dissent that could possibly make the Democratic party smarter, doesn't the factionalization of the Republican party represent the same thing on their side?
This leads me to think that Haidt knows his own party well but the opposing party only through stereotypes, which necessarily wipe out important distinctions -- and that suggests to me further that Haidt is living in a bubble that doesn't let in relevant information about the Republican party. I don't know him well enough to say, but it's possible that he has a personal level of structural stupidity that blocks out important information, thereby preventing him from seeing the full picture, and, because he's blocking that information out, he may _never_ see the full picture. I could hope otherwise, but that's what it looks like to me.
Glenn - I'm here because you and John McWhorter had an honest discussion regarding Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. Trayvon's death was tragic. The truth is out there, but the truth does not fit the current political agenda.
Glenn - what's up? Why do you give Jonathan Haidt a platform? Looks like you two had fun per the photo. Twice. This guy blames social media (and Republicans) for everything that's wrong in America - polarization, bullying, misinformation, Donald Trump, cancel culture, conspiracy theories, teenage depression – the list goes on and on. One can agree to a certain extent, but he's OTT.
Wait. I get it. Clicks.
“How Diverse Should Viewpoint Diversity Be?” received 44 likes and 85 tweets, er, comments. Whereas, “Turning Pain into Purpose” with the gracious Sylvia Bennett-Stone received only 9 comments (clicks). The disparity between what Haidt emits versus the inspirational work of Sylvia Bennett-Stone is not even close. America needs to hear more about Sylvia Bennett-Stone's work than Jonathan Haidt's rhetoric.
It’s over a year since Substack has become home to The Glenn Show. I'm a newbie on Substack just trying to figure out this thingy. To me, Substack appears to be just another form of Twitter. Your Q&A session is for subscribers only, but perhaps you could gently persuade TGS’s Creative Director Nikita Petrov to chime in now and then with the unpaid (cheap) commentors, like me. Otherwise the comments are nothing but a Twitter thread. Disappointing.
Perhaps you can secure former POTUS Obama for a podcast on The Glenn Show. The mansion in Hawaii should be done. You could cross-examine him, asking:
How many in this generation are we willing to lose to poverty or violence or addiction? How many? Yes, we need more cops on the street. Yes, we need fewer guns in the hands of people who shouldn't have them. Yes, we need more money for our schools, and more outstanding teachers in the classroom, and more afterschool programs for our children. Yes, we need more jobs and more job training and more opportunity in our communities. But we also need families to raise our children. We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception. We need them to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child - it's the courage to raise one.
Oh, my bad. Obama said that in June 2008.
Hey, how do you spell sophomoric.
While I appreciate Dr. Haidt's perspective on many things, I disagree with almost everything he says here.
Lets start with the notion of "structural insanity". The hypothesis that organizations which lack moderate voices acts in a stupid or insane way is a reasonable one, but the evidence that he provides that the congressional GOP is structurally insane - the reaction of the GOP to Donald Trump's conduct pertaining to the 2020 election - is actually rather bad.
First, what substantive actions does he expect Republicans in Congress to take to "hold Donald Trump to account"? Trump is not currently president. He is a private citizen, and our Constitution is (I think) fairly clear that it is not the job of Congress to go after private citizens.
Second, the idea that Trump's conduct around the 2020 election was beyond the pale, and thus in need of some for of censure, depends upon a simplistic take of that election that is out of step with the facts. I'm not saying Joe Biden didn't win, or that Trump handled the outcome perfectly, but there are enough serious critiques of the way in which the election proceeded that it's not crazy to doubt its results. The level of (publicly admitted!) coordination to prevent him from winning reelection means that *any* Republican presidential candidate is going to have to take election "fortification" seriously.
There are other areas, such as how the GOP of the present compares with its past, or the role of the political center, which I disagree but would need to ask him questions to better clarify the the nature of the disagreement.
I believe, even as a sympathetic third party, that Haidt really needs to explain "structural stupidity" in greater detail. Even after re-reading his article in the Atlantic, I am unclear how he defines the term. What does Haidt mean by contending that the "moderates" have been shot? I say that as one individual, a Republican Party member, and as a very unhappy Trump voter. Is Candace Owen a moderate? Is Tucker a moderate? Is Ron Johnson a moderate? And, Yes, I am assuming that "Lindsey" strives to even considered as an authentic Republican.
I am not a "Never Trumper," but I observe the obvious: Trump is shallow, intellectually unsophisticated, narrow-minded, and generally, uncouth. Trump does not have the intellect to replace, negate, and counter the resident members of the Swamp. Trump followed several progressively conservative policies, but he was defeated by the swap on so many levels and in so many arenas. Among the most egregious was his failure to share with John Solomon (and the press) the declassified documents that proved his innocence about Russiagate. Trump caved to Gina Haspel and the CIA. He remained clueless about Fiona Hill and others within his policy advisor group, a strategic blunder.
I do not know whether the election was "stolen" from Trump. Too many factual assessments remain unanswered about several states' election procedures. To me the question remains: How can any election be certified if there is no consensus about the final vote tally?
I respect much of Haidt’s work but some of his comments here about Republicans seem very wide of the mark to this political independent. He calls the party “insane” and says “There are no moderates left [in it].” But it is not the Republican Party that is facilitating and encouraging illegal immigration on a massive scale never seen before. And it is not the Republican Party that has thrown aside the 1964 Civil Rights Act and is replacing it with the overweening illegalities, hypocrisies and jargon of the “Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity” juggernaut. Not that the Republican Party looks all that great except by comparison with a Democratic Party in greater disrepair than at any time over at least half a century.
Perhaps Haidt’s vision of “moderate” corresponds to the agenda of the Anti-Defamation League, now run by Jonathan Greenblatt, a former operative in the Obama administration.
A bit more than a year ago I began learning about the degree to which a hyperpartisan and unethical ADL had penetrated K-12 public education systems in San Diego and elsewhere via its “No Place for Hate” program. It was a surprise to see how many people even in the Jewish community had low regard for the modern day ADL. My findings were published on the website of Californians for Equal Rights: Anti-Defamation League: A Compilation of Information on Its Political Nature (https://cferfoundation.org/get-adl-out-of-schools/). This was expanded, with some minor editorial changes, just a week ago. It consists of a critique of the Coordinators Handbook for ADL’s NPFH programs plus, without comment, excerpts from 106 articles about or mentioning ADL. A bit of a slog, even if you don’t go beyond the excerpts.
I’m sorry but there’s nothing more insane than believing if you think you’re something that it makes you that thing...
I’m pretty sure Just because the democrats have one moderate doesn’t make them moderate. They’ve gone complete insane imo. They lost me at all white people are racists and men can be women if they feel like it..... I’m done. P.S. oh and that gender affirming care for kids is safe...(it’s not and it most likely sterilizes them)...that is the most evil thing any party can stand for and the current administration stands for it!!! Chew on that Jon...
The comments clearly indicate that Haidt's attempt at gaslighting has failed with Prof. Loury's readers.
But, the collectivist mind, being powered by gaslight, he'll keep trying.
I’ve learned a lot from and am admirer of Jonathan Haidt. But I’m not sure his analysis of the difference between the parties, “structurally”, or in terms of their operational sanity works, even when limited to the federal level as he does. What’s the difference between a Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski in one party, versus a Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema in another? Both parties have purged their moderates both as retaliation for not complying with leadership and as part of the structural polarization of having to pander to more radical primary electorates. Of course this is most pronounced where districts can be Gerrymandered, but it’s still happening statewide in US Senate races, too. And not just because Trump, the singular bogeyman, is playing kingmaker in primaries (e.g. in Georgia he failed; in Ohio, Rob Portman’s replacement would have likely always been well to the populist right).
Re: Trump’s worst and most reckless moment, Mike Pence, who’d been derided as a pushover, did stand up to him. It’s in the Democrats’ interests to portray an entire party gone crazy, entirely enthralled by a madman would-be despot, and consumed at the base by Q-anon conspiracy theories and support for “insurrection”. Even Dems running the literal show were dead set on only amplifying and showcasing two Republicans who have become close political allies of theirs and who are distinguished by their own personal monomania re: destroying Trump. As much as Dems have suddenly fallen in love with her and try to promote her as a paragon political virtue, the rest of us know we’re still looking at Liz Cheney, scion of an actually far scarier right-wing Republican, and standard-bearer of a remorseless, relentless Neocon branch of the party enraged to have been mocked (finally!) and displaced, supplanted by Trump. I don’t even know how to begin to evaluate Adam Kinzinger, except to note his district is just far enough outside Chicago’s burbs to elect a moderate Republican, and his views on military intervention everywhere, all the time, seem to be in close alignment with Liz Cheney’s. There is a core point here I don’t dispute: yes, too many Republican leaders saw what Trump did to his 2016 primary opponents, the intensity of support he could command, and cravenly got on board with many of his excesses.
"Viewpoint Diversity" is a term perhaps useful as a counterpoint term to "Racial Diversity," but also is problematic for the same reason that the bare bones "Diversity" is. The administration of my university, like that of many others, is always paying lipservice to "viewpoint diversity." but then they have a hissyfit whenever some antisemitic or white nationalist flyer is distributed or posted on campus. They are so scarce , that having more antisemites or white nationalists on campus would definitely increase campus "viewpoint diversity." So either our prez doesn't understand English or she actually opposes "viewpoint diversity," contrary to her claims.
The problematic word is "diversity" almost all uses of which in political contexts are hypocritical and code for "forget the 1964 Civil Rights Act."
Ron Wakabayashi, former director of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, was one of the rare truth-tellers: "Politicians like to say that diversity is our greatest strength. That is b.s. Diversity simply is. The core question is: How do we extract its assets while minimizing its liabilities?"
Dr. Haidt, love ya man. But you call the Democratic Party the party with moderates. The plural is wrong. Who among the Democrats VOTES with Joe Manchin and the Republicans? How many Blue Dog Democrats remain? How many who are pro Second Amendment or pro life? The Democratic Party used to have space for such people. They don’t anymore.
I don't view Trump as a fascist. 75M people voted for Trump because they thought he was best capable of ending rampant corruption; they thought he would reduce federal subsidies to MNC's, close the double dutch tax loopholes that increase centralization of industry, and other entry barriers which not only create obstacles to form new businessses but also force mom and pops out of business. In some ways, Trump resembles the "old right". I know that is a bit of a stretch, because the man himself subscribes to no philosophical view, but his instincts are more aligned to Rose Wilder lane, Garett Garrett, Mises, Hayek, and others who sought the risk of liberty over the subjugation of mechanized order. I know Glenn isn't a fan of the austrians, and the classical view of economics, but I don't equate laizze faire and community power over centralized power as "radical" or "fascist". There is no doubt that certain institutions, like the WEF and other supranationals, seek to centralize power away from local representatives. I think Trump's attack on these institutions are valid. When he attacks the Supreme Court, I don't like it. I wish he would refrain from that behavior, but you have take the good with the bad. And sadly, we only have two choices.
Sometimes rational discourse is impossible.
People keep saying stupid stuff like Biden's a moderate. He sure hasn't governed as one. He tried to push through 3.5 TRILLION build back better. That's not moderate.
He's trying to get rid of the title 9 due process protections that just got put back in, that's not moderate. Or trying to push woke BS in education
He nominated a women for the Supreme freaken court that can't answer what a women is??? That's not freaken moderate.
Being slightly to the right of AoC or Sanders doesn't make you a moderate.
You might not think the Democratic party is trying to do all these terrible things. But tens of millions of Americans disagree,
“So let's start with the right. On the right, the Republican Party, I believe, has become structurally stupid. It is the insane party, much more so than the Democrats.”
Uhh. No, the Democratic Party is more insane than the Republican Party( although I won’t mind if someone argues they are equally insane). This is very aptly demonstrated by Democrats, such as Haidt who seem to be incapable of seeing the utter lunancy and hypocrisy of many of the core narratives that the Democratic Party pushes. The biggest one of being that the Democratic Parry is the party of “democracy” and civil rights, and somehow has always been so. Seriously it’s on their fuking website that they have been fighting for civil rights for 200 years: when they were fighting a war for slavery they were apparently fighting for civil rights according to their official timeline. The fact that people like Haidt don’t see this as a problem but are obsessed with the demagoguery of Trump is obscene. The only reason the Democratic Party currently has a majority support from black people is because of pure demagoguery and deceit.
Good gawd, can people like Glenn please push back more on “liberals” who have this love affair with the Democratic Party? It’s the party that fought a war to to keep its slaves and now is the party that wants Vietnamese immigrants to pay reparations to black people for the crimes of the Democratic Party. Why? Cuz demagoguery.
And the constant bullshit whining about Trump being delusional about the election outcome is completely bonkers given the 4 years that the Democratic Party took trying to delegitimize the 2016 election. It’s just stupid. Which is why people who are obsessed about it are clearly “insane.”
Haidt isn’t stupid. He is clearly intelligent in the sense his iq is probably fairly high. But he fails to apply that iq equally to his faction. Which is why he can call the Republican Party insane (whatever) but think that the party that supports the notion that men and women can change their sex based on their feelings isnt. Or he can complain about Republican demagoguery but see nothing wrong with a party that once fought for slavery and argued in court that they have no obligation to run fair democratic elections wearing the banner of anti racism and democracy. So much partisan garbage from people who talk so highly about objectivity and not being biased.
I wrote a thorough and explicit essay on the blaring deceit that the Democratic Party has not reckoned with. I really wish Glenn would pass it along.
https://minorityreport.substack.com/p/accepting-the-obvious
And can political “experts” please stop using the language of “left” and “right” to label various political perspectives. Possible political philosophy isn’t a binary. Although some political philosophies definitely construct the world in such a way, such as Haidt’s apparently, but it’s wrong.
It just so happens that one of the biggest sins of many Democrats these days is to label anyone who breaks from whatever insane orthodoxy they belong to as being “right wing.” Oh you don’t like marx- right winger. Oh you don’t think men can become women if they alter their sexual organs and take hormones? Right winger. Oh you didn’t vote for Biden? Right winger. Oh you don’t think climate change is apocalyptic? Putin lover. Oh and you are an atheist and don’t believe in gender norms? Wait a second... brain shuts down.
Seriously, the depth and nuance of thought that I witness from our political “elite” is not elite at all. It is pathetically amateur. Probably because it is just profitable *demagoguery*.
Perhaps Haidt’s biggest delusion is that his party is “center left”. If his party ruled this country, and there was no political resistance, in short time everyone would be required to wear pronoun pins, black people wouldn’t have to pass exams to get their medical license, and their would be insufficient energy production to fuel electric vehicles. Because the “center” of his party is rapidly moving to the “left” beneath his feet.