"The true threat to democracy is faux-populist conservatism."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2005/02/08/brooks_and_elitism/index.html

The real elitism
David Brooks used my work to bash Howard Dean and MoveOn, but the true threat to democracy is his party's faux-populist conservatism.

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By Theda Skocpol



Feb. 8, 2005 | Are MoveOn.org and Howard Dean, who is about to be named chairman of the Democratic National Committee, major threats to democracy in America -- and bastions of elitism within the Democratic Party? That is what David Brooks would have us believe. His Feb. 5 Op-Ed column in the New York Times invoked my 2003 book, "Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life," in support of the notion that a secularist, "newly dominant educated class" is using advocacy groups and Internet fundraising to take over the Democratic Party. In Brooks' vision of politics, Republicans have meanwhile morphed into a true party of ordinary people.

I was not a "Deaniac" in the 2004 election, but I must protest the way Brooks has used my research to support his claims. Democrats today certainly face challenges in building broad coalitions of educated professionals and populist supporters. But MoveOn and the Dean campaign have gotten more people involved, not fewer, in the party. Republicans, meanwhile, can hardly brag that they represent the values of ordinary Americans. Their effort to destroy the popular and inclusive Social Security program, a plan hatched by ultra-right advocacy groups and think tanks, is a textbook case of manipulative elitism and faux-populist conservatism....

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

He presents himself well in the role of "the conservative that liberals can get along with" while, in reality, presenting a viewpoint that is downright dangerous.