Maggie's Farm

An excellent summary of American political divisions today from Left-Liberal Michael Lind: LIBERAL VIEWS - The arbitrary line between “left” and “right” is drawn smack through the middle of the liberal tradition. So, I clarify my own position: the "left-liberal."

We left-liberals have less in common with other “left” philosophies and movements than we do with “right-liberals” — the proper name for moderate conservatives in the U.S., UK, and similar societies with well-established liberal traditions. (Radical libertarians sometimes call themselves “classical liberals,” but they are not really part of the liberal tradition; their intellectual ancestors are nineteenth-century anarchists).

Lind is a reasonable guy, but my three questions to people he terms "left-liberals" are these: "What is the end-point of the Progressive, big government project?";  "Whence your faith and trust in governmental enterprises anyway?" and "How much does individual freedom enter into your political thinking?"

I have never heard satisfactory answers to those three questions.

The New York senator was right—and not only about black families.

It was more black families 50 years ago, now the decay has expanded.

The goal of the Moynihan Report, he said, had been to begin a serious national conversation about the implications of those sizable numbers of out-of-wedlock births and what they said about the condition of the family and marriage. His fellow liberals believed that the social and cultural pathologies Moynihan had identified could be effectively addressed by an historic expansion of the federal government. President Johnson’s War on Poverty, launched in 1964, was defined in part by a series of programs that would intervene against family and marriage breakdown, helping to arrest, reverse, and eventually eradicate the problems that Moynihan had identified.

But Moynihan was skeptical. Government could not tuck a child into bed at night; government could not save a marriage; government could not help a broken family fall in love again. These were, he said, primarily cultural problems and not economic or political ones—a bold assertion at a time when trust in big government was embraced by members of both parties.

Perhaps he will set an example, but probably not. Big Education is as greedy as anything.

The Game Changer: Mitch Daniels Paves a New Path for University Presidents

Pop culture tends low-brow because that is where most peoples' tastes run, whether in food, music, pictures, reading, architecture, style, etc. The big money is in lowbrow mass market. That's fine.

It's not really an economic class thing although it might correlate in some ways. I consider myself solidly middle-brow, but have tried to educate my appreciation and enjoyment of the finer things all of my life. I may be partly limited by my IQ and by my imagination. I suppose we all have tastes that sometimes run the gamut. I love the Beatles and I love Bach.

Hillary Clinton had herself photographed lunching at Chipotle to indicate that she can relate to lowbrow tastes. That was just once. Where does she usually lunch without the press? Not Chipotle or McDonalds, I am sure. She looks well-fed.

I'd consider T.S. Eliot to be a highbrow. From A Culture Warrior Contemplates Defeat:

In his 1948 essay, Notes Towards the Definition of Culture, T.S. Eliot argued that the highest levels of culture are only attainable by relatively small groups of people, and that in order for a civilization to sustain high culture a class system of some kind is necessary. Because culture is transmitted primarily through the family and religion—not schools—and because it relies to a large extent on these particular loyalties for its perpetuation, when these institutions fail, “we must expect our culture to deteriorate.”

I am not alarmed. High culture is alive and well. Silent snobbery is good, but spoken snobbery is snotty and you have to be careful because some people with proletarian tastes are darn smart and just unilluminated. Well, sometimes snobbery is appropriate. During the Renaissance, 99% of Western people were illiterate peasants who never heard of Michelangelo. Admittedly, they had some exposure to fine things if they went to a cathedral, but they never did - or maybe one pilgrimage in their life. I try to remember that Verdi was the rock star of his time, far from "high culture". How many Greeks studied Plato?

There are cultural elites just as their are elites in every other arena of life. We ordinary people rely on our elites for many good things.

Two highbrows talking on TV. Right-wing neanderthal dude on the left played Bach on the harpsichord to relax at his seaside home in Stamford, CT. and had a pianny on his sailboat. If you are too young to know, Bill Buckley and Gore Vidal:

Most people have seen Megan's piece, Sheltered Students Go to College, Avoid Education.

I believe (or hope) it greatly overstates the matter. There are still plenty of serious, curious and highly-capable higher ed students out there, but they are diluted by the masses of people looking for a diploma only plus a few years of extended adolescence. Credentialists, partiers, and cheaters.

Furthermore, I believe that the academic fascism which seems so much in vogue right now has zero to do with genuine hypersensitivity. It is pure, calculated, activist bullying. Scalp-hunting. Why college admins tolerate it for one second is beyond me. They are supposed to be the strong adults in the room. In fact, by my era's standards, the students were supposed to be adults too.

In the name of emotional well-being, college students are increasingly demanding protection from words and ideas they don’t like. Here’s why that’s disastrous for education—and mental health.

(link fixed)

Some recent campus actions border on the surreal. In April, at Brandeis University, the Asian American student association sought to raise awareness of microaggressions against Asians through an installation on the steps of an academic hall. The installation gave examples of microaggressions such as “Aren’t you supposed to be good at math?” and “I’m colorblind! I don’t see race.” But a backlash arose among other Asian American students, who felt that the display itself was a microaggression. The association removed the installation, and its president wrote an e-mail to the entire student body apologizing to anyone who was “triggered or hurt by the content of the microaggressions.”

It has little to do with coddling. It's letting the lunatics run the asylum, by submitting to their bullying. Nobody believes all of this nonsense.

Recall that Mrs. Bill Clinton worked on the Watergate committee, but was fired for incompetence.

From Cheryl Mills to erase Hillary emails:

Hillary and Cheryl and Huma ought to have one of those seances Hillary used to have with Eleanor Roosevelt's ghost, only this time contact Richard Nixon's ghost and ask about the wisdom of getting in a urination match with a federal judge.

Freshman Comp: Often More About Politics than Sentences

It's a strange world, and getting stranger.

Ten here, but there lots more. Just use your imagination.

Most can be learned in trade schools or ideally via apprenticeship: carpenter, cabinetmaker, gunsmith, programmer, video game inventor, professional lifeguard, medical marijuana dealer, hunting and fishing guide, writer, musician, gambler, office assistant, receptionist, illustrator, Uber driver, 16-wheeler truck driver, mechanic, train conductor, gardener, cook or chef, air traffic controller, retail manager or sales, landscape designer, entrepreneur of anything - the list is endless but you have to know how to do something useful.

It is not necessary to be exceptional like these people to build a fine life: 100 Top Entrepreneurs Who Succeeded Without A College Degree

Add your ideas, please, in the comments -

Hinderaker:

Do we really believe that many thousands of local children growing up in fractured and often chaotic families can do as well academically, on average, as other kids growing up in much more stable homes? Honestly? …

We mix and match courses with our Great Courses friends in the neighborhood. Get rid of your cable and use your boob tube for their DVDs. Your entire quality of life will be improved.

The Great Courses. Better to get them when on sale.

UNH was shamed into backing off from their absurdity: University of New Hampshire No Longer Asking Students to Fix Problematic Speech - Bias-Free Language Guide removed from UNH website.

I hope their diversity czar got a well-deserved spanking.

Related, better: from the great University of Chicago:  Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression

When policy-makers want more of something, they subsidize it. We Have Too Many Colleges, So Cut Federal Funding

As we’ve poured more and more government money into college “access,” schools have pocketed much of the money and gone on a spending spree – and then increased their tuition and fees, leading politicians to cry that they must increase student aid more to keep higher education “affordable.”

And it’s true that quality has declined. 

It's not educational quality that has declined so much as it is the capability of students seeking higher ed. Credential inflation. Schools trying to keep their seats filled with paying customers: George Washington University Ditches SAT, ACT Scores, School was worried tests were driving away promising students.

GWU annual college cost/yr: $64,300.

The bubble. Higher ed has been a booming industry since they lowered standards and since government began subsidizing them with loans, grants, etc.

What percent of colleges are glorified high schools, selling degrees?  Too Many Colleges?

“Only the disciplined mind can see reality, Winston. You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.”

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1948), as quoted in McCain's Feminism as Totalitarian Ideology

University of Denver Creates Animal Law Professorship

Yes, Animals Think And Feel

Answer here. This was a Democrat policy accomplishment, combined with a large dose of noblesse oblige. Mission accomplished. Thanks, greedy Dems, for killing our golden goose. You have fundamentally transformed our traditional Yankee state with its old traditional values of thrift and sturdy self-reliance.

And special thanks to Gov. Weicker, who rapidly exited the state after instituting his new taxes. His noblesse oblige is on us, not him.

Here

Libertarian utopians?

From Cato, Finding Rights in the Constitution

The US Constitution, as written, was not so much designed to enumerate citizen rights as it is designed to restrict federal governmental powers. Local choice and individual freedom were the main thing, and were therefore minimally listed. Libertarians are confronted with the question of the extent of individual freedom, given that the document was written in the context of (assumed) cultural and religious traditions and beliefs.

We have plenty of spare room and love to have house guests. I have never had any complaints about them at all. Sure, you have to provide some entertainment and activity options, but that's just fun anyway. We have a list of seasonal options. My only house rule is No Noisy Sex and Don't Scare the Horses.

On the other hand, I hate being a house guest. Really hate it. It feels like prison to me. I tiptoe around early in the morning, afraid of making noise. I can't do my usual routine. I can't stumble around in my underwear. No alone time. I have to wait to be offered a cocktail. Where can I enjoy a cigar? I can't raid the fridge at midnight. Would they ever ask me back?  "Make yourself at home." What? How?

If they have a guest house or guest cabin, great. Perfect for me no matter how primitive. Even an outhouse is fine. Many people do not have those.

Readers, offer me your advice to make being a house guest more comfortable. Or are you like me and prefer being a host to being a guest?

"For every extra dollar available to students in subsidized federal aid, colleges raise tuition by an estimated 65 cents on average, according to a staff report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last week."

Is any greed uglier than the greed of government and non-profits?

Steyn: "Trump, like other philosophically erratic politicians from Denmark to Greece, has tapped into a very basic strain of cultural conservatism: the question of how far First World peoples are willing to go in order to extinguish their futures on the altar of "diversity"'.

More fun from Trump:  Trump appears with families of people killed by Illegal Immigrants. He takes it right to the press.

Yes, they do

Entirely related, Separate School From State