\n\n“most of his anti-liberal broadside is at once underbaked and overheated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The critique is underbaked in the sense that it\u2019s not clear from his account how exactly this rather large \u201celite\u201d is responsible for the destruction of conservative norms and small-town America. How can we hold a graphic designer in Chicago or a Whole Foods supply chain specialist in Austin responsible for the decline of Christian morals and the hollowing out of small towns?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s overheated in the sense that Deneen turns his rivals into cartoon villains, arguing that \u201cthe current ruling class is uniquely ill-equipped for reform, having become one of the worst of its kind produced in history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roman nobles were legally permitted to rape their slaves<\/a>. The military elites of the Mongol Empire were constantly murdering civilians and each other<\/a>. In France after the Black Plague, the impoverished aristocracy stole from their already-suffering peasants to continue funding their lavish lifestyles<\/a>. The elite of the early American South centered their entire society<\/a> around the racist brutality of chattel slavery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is the American elite out of touch with the working class in ways that have tangible and negative consequences for the country? Sure. But it\u2019s not remotely comparable to the bad elites of previous centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This loss of perspective tarnishes Deneen\u2019s argument throughout the book \u2014 a problem most vividly on display in his treatment of the divide between \u201cthe many\u201d and \u201cthe few.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Deneen\u2019s thinking, it is axiomatic that the central divide in Western politics is between the villainous liberal elite (the \u201cfew\u201d) and the culturally conservative mass public (\u201cthe many\u201d). The liberal elites wish to impose their cultural vision on society and attack the customs and traditions of ordinary people; the many, who are instinctively culturally conservative, have risen under the banner of leaders like Trump to oppose them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Except how do we know that liberals really are \u201cthe few?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deneen doesn\u2019t cite election or polling data to support his theory of a natural conservative majority. Trump has never won the popular vote while on the ballot; his party performed historically<\/a> poorly<\/a> in two midterm elections since his rise to power. Polling on the cultural issues Deneen so cares about, like same-sex marriage, often finds majority support for liberal positions<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n