David Frum Sings a Song, In Praise of Elitism, and Against Tea Baggers . . .

Now that's a Republican I can respect. Well, at least a little.

I wasn't going out of my way to find something from or about him. Actually, I was following up on my "Theory of Wing Nut Anti Elitism," and ran a quick google to see if I could find evidence of my working thesis out there. And the link to this recent article popped up.

I do admit, that as far as right wingers go, I think he's sorta ok. He's no wing nut, that's for sure. It's nice to know there are still a few sane people on the other side of the fence. And I totally agree with what he is quoted as saying, in the article:

"In a “sane” country, anyone more conservative than him would be institutionalized."

Gotta love the candor, and good analytical skills.

Since I am talking about him, I will say that as far as right wing blogs go, his is one of the most rational-seeming, to me. I can read articles and essays there, and usually my strongest reaction is merely,"I disagree." It's pretty much a bat shit crazy-free zone. Unless one of the bat shit crazies is the topic of interest, naturally.

Anyway, since I am here, and since I breached the topic, I might as well toss off the summary of my "Theory of Wing Nut Anti Elitism," flesh it out a little maybe, but reserve the right to get back to it on a later date. The more I think about it, the more I think there could be a book in it, if I could concentrate and dedicate the time to the task. Anyway, here goes.

Thanks to my urban, East Coast history, growing up Catholic, attending an elite university, and being interested in the intersection of culture, sociology, history and politics, I have had some thoughts about what I now call wing nut anti elitism bubbling in my head for years. And most recently, thanks to that PBS special on God In America, I believe I have a greater appreciation of the effect Protestant bigotry (specifically, Anti Catholic, Anti Urban, Anti Old World European bigotry,) had, if not still has, on American Culture. And now I am now pretty much convinced to a great extent, that what I call wing nut anti elitism is mostly just a product of lingering, Protestant bigotry (specifically, Anti Catholic, Anti Urban, Anti Old World European bigotry.)

Now back in the days when I was consuming European History books (or novels set in old Europa) the way other kids my age were consuming comic books, I was building on the slim knowledge of Protestantism in Europe, and all those religious wars, found in my grade school text books. And I learned the minimum about Protestantism's role in the formation of Early American society from those text books. But honestly? As a topic by itself I found most anything having to do with Protestantism, specifically American Protestantism, to be square, dull, and rather boring.

Hell. Even when I was in college, in my last semester, I took a gut (for a senior) class in Euro History -- Renaissance through Congress of Vienna. One of the assigned texts was a slim bio of Martin Luther. But once I found out the Professor predictably gave the same final for the course, and the essay would be a choice between the one on Luther, and the one on the Jacobins, I left the Luther bio on the shelf, unopened. The Jacobins. The Tennis Court Oath. Dr. Guillotine's Invention. Now that was some exciting stuff. So even when I had a chance to get to know more about one of the chief founders of Protestantism, I passed.

But when I watched the PBS documentary, recently, it sharpened the issues for me. Firstly Protestantism is, and as a function of it reason for existing, Anti Catholic. Has to be. You have this thousand plus year old religious institution essentially (meaning to a great part) ruling Europe. Protestantism not only rejected liturgical if not theological views held by the Catholic Elite (the priesthood,) but as well, cultural views and values. Remember that Henry the VIII not only looted the monasteries, he let the malicious fucktards destroy the rood screens, and smash the statues (Remember the Taliban blowing up the Buddhas? Shit. They could have stolen that idea directly out of the history of Protestant Malice.)

Anyway, with out belaboring the Euro history part, by the time you get to colonization of America, you have people coming here who were not merely allegedly escaping "religious persecution." But you had people who were rejecting all of it. They were rejecting "Catholic Mysticism," and along with that, the arts and culture that they, as an institution, had patronized, if not funded, for centuries. They rejected the idea of urbanism, and set out for the frontier, to carve their lives out of the soil. And they, in many cases, were embittered, to start. And they were distrustful of anyone not close enough to people like them, to start. And the isolation of the lifestyle was not really good for the mind. It allowed for all sorts of weird solipsistic thinking (even if you had scattered family units, not just individuals. Think of it as scattered mini cults, peopled by desperate semi literates, desperate for some meaning in their otherwise drab, little, hardscrabble lives.) And being freed of the binds of urbanism and community, in lots of cases, they were (as made plain in the documentary) basically ripe for the picking, once the first wave of revivalism swept the land.

And that would have been in the early 19th Century. After the Nation was founded, actually. In any case, The "churches" that popped up in the 19th Century served the dual purpose of providing a sense of community, and a sense of meaning, for them who needed some external validation of that sort.

I'm going to jump to the chase. Even if the roots of American Protestantism (and conservatism) might be said to be based in a desire for simplification of the relationship to God, and of one's general lifestyle, it ended up, to a great extent, in many but not all cases, more of a cult of small, if not simple mindedness. But that is not the whole of it. (And that is the judgmental part, I will admit.) But as I said above, the real roots of Protestantism is one of rejectionism. As a movement, its reason for coming into being was to reject the Old World way of doing things. Perhaps not ironically, ask one of these wing nuts why they waste their time getting all upset about "Them Elites," they will likely spew some borderline psychotic babble about how "Them Elites" run them down, and talk down to them, and treat them like inferiors and simpletons. But hey. I say not ironically because wing nuts love to embrace the idea of a cult of victim hood.

Let's not forget the fact that it was their spiritual if not biological ancestors who turned their backs on the Old Word and its ultra sophisticated ways. It did not work the other way around. The Protestants themselves chose to go off and wander around the wilderness. They were not cast out. They voted with their feet (metaphorically and sometimes literally.)

Ok. I went long, but I swear, I could knock out a dozen chapters on this, if I put my mind and fingers to it. So I will leave off here, but before I head for the exit, I will toss off the part I totally avoided, and that would be how my "Theory of Wing Nut Anti Elitism," blurs into my "Theory of Tea Bagger Racism." Hey. Not only are those different looking people crossing the border brown skinned, but they are Catholics! Yes! The largest denomination in America, these days, is Catholicism.

They outnumber Southern Baptists by at least three to one. And the more of them who cross the border, the more Catholics there will be, and the so called Christian Conservatives will be less numerous and powerful. Let's face the facts. Old Time Protestantism might not be as bad off as the Shakers ended up (extinct.) But their numbers are dwindling, by comparison. Just reporting the facts.