“and given that many of these forces also operated among blue-collar voters in the North”
Not saying that what Mead describes isn’t true but it is certainly fair to say that much of what he attributes to specific cultural attitudes in the South are near universal to the human experience. Humor, distaste for subjugation, and disdain for “elites”. Tapping into these views to gain power and influence others is as old as time.
The piece boils down to the Southern Strategy as explained by Atwood as appealing to economics, family, law and order, patriotism, and defense combined with a flair of humor, personality, and showmanship. The message and the messenger.
Mead apparently thinks that the elder George Bush was a Reagan Republican – a mistake that throws his analysis of the current state of the GOP out of whack, as he concludes that the Reaganites are the NeverTrumpers. Anyone familiar with Bush’s pre-Reagan history knows that Bush was the Establishment’s man in Reagan’s administration – and he returned to Establishment form in his own presidency, which was one reason why he lost to Clinton.
The policy errors Mead lists in the second part that opened the way to Trump are all things the GOP Establishment wanted, and any reader of Mead’s book Special Providence recognizes them as classic Hamiltonian policies – it’s odd that Mead didn’t see that himself. Thus it’s the Establishment that has been broken by Trump’s advent. The Reaganites are still around as a coherent force – they’ve always been much more sympathetic to populism than the Establishment was. In that respect Mead has reversed what actually happened in the GOP.
A long but fascinating read. I learned a lot even if I don’t buy into everything Mead suggests.
“and given that many of these forces also operated among blue-collar voters in the North”
Not saying that what Mead describes isn’t true but it is certainly fair to say that much of what he attributes to specific cultural attitudes in the South are near universal to the human experience. Humor, distaste for subjugation, and disdain for “elites”. Tapping into these views to gain power and influence others is as old as time.
The piece boils down to the Southern Strategy as explained by Atwood as appealing to economics, family, law and order, patriotism, and defense combined with a flair of humor, personality, and showmanship. The message and the messenger.
Mead apparently thinks that the elder George Bush was a Reagan Republican – a mistake that throws his analysis of the current state of the GOP out of whack, as he concludes that the Reaganites are the NeverTrumpers. Anyone familiar with Bush’s pre-Reagan history knows that Bush was the Establishment’s man in Reagan’s administration – and he returned to Establishment form in his own presidency, which was one reason why he lost to Clinton.
The policy errors Mead lists in the second part that opened the way to Trump are all things the GOP Establishment wanted, and any reader of Mead’s book Special Providence recognizes them as classic Hamiltonian policies – it’s odd that Mead didn’t see that himself. Thus it’s the Establishment that has been broken by Trump’s advent. The Reaganites are still around as a coherent force – they’ve always been much more sympathetic to populism than the Establishment was. In that respect Mead has reversed what actually happened in the GOP.
The link is now deceased.