. . . the Tea Partiers are closer to the New Left. They don’t seek to form a counter-establishment because they don’t believe in establishments or in authority structures. They believe in the spontaneous uprising of participatory democracy.
. . . both the New Left and the Tea Party movement are radically anticonservative. Conservatism is built on the idea of original sin — on the assumption of human fallibility and uncertainty. To remedy our fallen condition, conservatives believe in civilization — in social structures, permanent institutions and just authorities, which embody the accumulated wisdom of the ages and structure individual longings.
That idea was rejected in the 1960s by people who put their faith in unrestrained passion and zealotry. The New Left then, like the Tea Partiers now, had a legitimate point about the failure of the ruling class. But they ruined it through their own imprudence, self-righteousness and naïve radicalism.
And Glenn Beck as the new Abbie Hoffman? Maybe I'll steal his book.
4 comments:
Ignorant babel from the state media as usual.
I have to disagree; he doesn't know what he's talking about. He was a little kid at the time; I was bumping heads with the Leftist jerks (SDS and similar buttheads)in college (1969). Most of them wanted to turn the US into a big commune, and thought Red China was some sort of utopia.
What the.... Dude, don't bogart that.
And BobG is right. Brooks doesn't even attempt to bring the Yippie movement into the discussion.
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