Politics

The Age of Hog and Hominy – National Review

Published

5 years ago

April 19, 2020

Former vice president Joe Biden at his Super Tuesday night rally in Los Angeles, Calif., March 3, 2020. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

The United States of America cannot be governed by platitude.

Edna Ferber, author of Giant, had a great ear for one of the subtlest American dialects: High Texan Bulls***, the mother tongue of almost every politician to make it from the Lone Star State to the national stage, from Lyndon Johnson to Ross Perot to George W. Bush to Rick Perry. “It was part of the Texas ritual,” Ferber wrote. “We’re rich as son-of-a-bitch stew but look how homely we are, just as plain-folksy as Grandpappy back in 1836. We know about Champagne and caviar but we talk hog and hominy.”

(If only for the phrase “rich as son-of-a-bitch stew,” Ferber should have been carried down Broadway on a palanquin by members of the Algonquin Round Table.)

It isn’t only the Texans, anymore. Hog and hominy is the language of politics from sea to shining sea. You know this if you watch cable news.

Subtitling television programming has to be one of the worst jobs in writing, and sometimes words cannot really capture what is happening on screen, hence vague descriptions such as “crosstalk” or “jaunty music” or (this is supposedly genuine) “loudly implied cannibalism.” The subtitling teams over at CNN and Fox News et al. should add to their arsenal the phrase “folksy moral certitude.” They could save themselves some time when covering political debates, speeches, and rallies.

In the language of folksy moral certitude, a key phrase is “Where I come from.” This is a phrase used to recruit the folk to your cause, whether they like it or not. If a politician wants to say that something is naughty, he does not have to argue that it is naughty or to prove its naughtiness, but only need say, “Where I come from, we think that is naughty.” And thus the hardscrabble honest working-class cartoons of Scranton or Cleveland or Toad Suck, Arkansas, are reduced to moral ballast for the convenience of some Harvard-educated millionaire lawyer who was too lazy to sue insurance companies for a living and went to Washington instead.

No surprise that Elizabeth Warren is big on “where I come from,” e.g.,

Where I come from, nobody calls fine print, hidden fees, and surprise penalties “negotiated contract terms” or ‘innovations.” On a polite day, my brothers in Oklahoma call that kind of stuff “garbage.”

The implied profanity there is part of the idiotic idiom. Profanity is the moron’s shorthand for moral urgency — remember those “Sarah Palin Is a C***” T-shirts. Senator Warren doesn’t want to do her own cursing, so she drafts her brothers and puts words into their mouths.

In reality, there is a bit more to those legal questions than folksy moral certitude will admit, which is why those nice gentlemen over at Kirkland & Ellis earn $1 million a month or so.

This is not news to Professor Warren of Harvard Law, where they expect their students to actually learn about contract law — negotiated contract terms and all! — and will not accept nuggets of folksy wisdom of her brothers in Oklahoma or her Cherokee-princess great-grandmother or whatever as though these were something of value. Senator Warren knows this. Her chair at Harvard was not endowed by plainspoken Oklahoma hog farmers — it was endowed by a law firm that made a lot of money helping multinational banks that profited from the Bernie Madoff fraud avoid paying compensation to his victims. Was that a bad thing for them to do? Legal experience and folksy moral certitude may produce incompatible opinions on that. I am sure that Senator Warren could provide a very persuasive explanation. A half dozen of them, probably.

The critical factor here is that Senator Warren does not think that students at Harvard Law are stupid but believes, not without some reason, that voters are. So it’s Champagne and caviar in Cambridge and hog and hominy for you hay-humping serfs down in Oklahoma.

The average voter is not stupid. The average voter is average. What people are is ignorant — all of us. Even the smartest and most knowledgeable of people are smart and knowledgeable only about a relatively narrow range of subjects. The smarter ones understand that specialization implies limitation, and the less smart ones do not. (Ask any old man with a gold Rolex yelling at Fox News.) People tend to be biased in believing that the kind of knowledge they have is the important kind and that other kinds are less valuable and hence are susceptible to the stratagem that has taken Warren and so many others like her so far in politics: pretending that complex problems can be easily solved by lightly informed amateurs if only enough folksy wisdom is hurled at them.

Senator Warren is a kind of chimera, part folksy-wisdom dispenser and part would-be technocrat. That is where the Democratic Party is right at the moment: The folksy moral certitude on offer insists that thorny social problems can be solved (with no unpleasant tradeoffs!) by giving the right people power to manage the technocrats. Senator Warren’s bronze-medal move was trying to catch her own pitch.

Joe Biden is famously big on “Where I come from” even when he is not sure where he is trying to go. In February, the man who would be king stood before an audience and declared: “Where I come from, you don’t go very far unless you ask. My name’s Joe Biden. I’m a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate.” After some time, he remembered that he was running for president, having retired from the Senate some years ago and none too soon.

The contest between Donald Trump and Joe Biden will be one of competing folksy moral certitudes. In spite of the manful efforts of some of my colleagues on the right, Trumpism remains a collection of shallow slogans rather than a collection of ideas or principles. Joe Biden could easily run on the slogan “Make America Great Again” if it weren’t already taken. So could have Bernie Sanders. That is because those four words have no intellectual content, only emotional appeal. What do they mean? That needs no explanation: We, the People, know! “Where I come from, Make America Great Again is so obvious that it doesn’t need explaining.” Lucky thing, that, as anybody who has ever watched President Trump try to explain anything knows. Biden made his political living serving as the credit-card industry’s ambassador to Washington. Where Joe Biden comes from, they know . . . all about the benefits of a preferential legal environment when making corporate-domiciling decisions for multinational financial concerns.

The shortcomings of folksy moral certitude are obvious enough. When there are not enough ventilators to go around, politicians will stampede to the microphones to declare: “Everybody has a moral right to health care!” Thanks for that, Bubba. The number of ventilators available after that declaration of folksy moral certitude is — you will not be surprised to learn — exactly the same as the number of ventilators available before that declaration of folksy moral certitude. If you want to know how to get more ventilators online, then you have to tune out the folksy moral certitude for a minute or two and do the hard work of sitting down and learning about the issue from somebody who knows something about it. Those somebodies are not generally found serving in Congress.

This is a big, complex, dynamic country. Its problems are big complex, and dynamic, too — they already were before the epidemic and the recession that it is sure to produce, and they will become more so as, in the words of one famous television subtitle, “Intensity intensifies.” If you think that the epidemic is disruptive, consider the pace at which our national fiscal position is deteriorating and then imagine a debt crisis layers on top of the viral one. (Not a certainty — a possibility.) Where I come from, that is some terrifying stuff. Probably is where you come from, too.

The United States of America cannot be governed by platitude. It cannot be led by platitude or by those who have almost nothing to offer beyond platitude.

Not well, anyway — and not forever.

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Politics

‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

Published

1 day ago

November 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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Politics

Saskatchewan NDP’s Beck holds first caucus meeting after election, outlines plans

Published

1 day ago

November 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.

Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.

She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.

Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.

Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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Politics

Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

Published

2 days ago

November 7, 2024

Anne Joseph

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax

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