Chris Bray writes for the Federalist about the latest round of silly left-wing complaints.
The American political left as a cultural formation, and the Democratic Party as an institution, have sunk into a style of oppositionalism that contains no opposition. They speak in a vernacular of protest because they speak in a vernacular of protest, out of habit and as a cultural identity, but they have no idea what they’re protesting. They’re very angry about the, you know, stuff. Something something Trump something something. At three o’clock, the nurse brings pudding. Comfortable and wealthy people, many decades into their experience of affluence and safety, are putting their bodies on the line to oppose fascism for a couple hours before the driver takes them back to their mansions. …
… Liberal authority credentials itself by its performative oppositionalism. To borrow from the gonzo journalist Tom Wolfe, liberal authority is self-mau-mauing. It theatrically attacks itself, play-posturing against the bases of its own power. It sustains its authority by protesting against authority, giving in to demands that it grow its authority to curb the authoritarianism of the authorities, who are opposed by the authorities. If you sit in against a progressive administration, they show up with pajamas and happy faces and treat it as a sleepover. They’re against themselves too, you guys, can we send over some pizzas?
Living as anti-authority authorities who protest against authority to protect their authority, leftists embedded in institutions become gelatin. You can’t attack them, because your fist squishes into the blob.
1.) I hate these authorities!
2.) “Yes, yes, we do too.” – The Authorities
And so, over the weekend, we were treated to the hilarious spectacle of United States senators rising up and taking to the streets to march against the federal government, arm-in-arm with wealthy celebrities.
