January 23, 2020

"The classic image of the Tory, which holds from the 1700s to today, is that of a fat, self-satisfied landowner, generally complacent but..."

"... driven to red-faced distemper by anything that would intrude on the enjoyment of his privilege and the comforts of his estate....Yang seems to uniquely attract this kind of person — the recently established and self-regarding. His supporters include Tesla founder Elon Musk, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, rapper and actor Donald Glover, who threw an impromptu concert for Yang in December, Weezer lead singer Rivers Cuomo, and actor Nicholas Cage. They all in one way or another belong to a previous age, in which the pretensions of wealth and talent were given more deference. They are men accustomed to having their fanciful notions regarded with awe and respect. In the midst of or approaching middle age, they fear the loss of the world they could understand and master. The 17th century philosopher Spinoza asserted that every individual thing strives to persist in its existence, and these magnates certainly follow that universal law, resenting anything that would dilute or diminish their sense of singularity. In America, libertarianism used to attract people with this sensibility, but the era of Trump and populism has evidently made libertarians realize that 'Leave me alone' is no longer a viable political position; they have moved on to 'If I give you some money, will you leave me alone?' in the form of the Freedom Dividend, Yang’s Universal Basic Income proposal. The New American Tories have adopted the classic Tory answer to social unrest — paternalism."

From "Andrew Yang and the New American Tories/What links celebrity Yang supporters like Dave Chappelle, Rivers Cuomo, and Norm MacDonald?" (The Outline).

54 comments:

lgv said...

That is absolutely ridiculous. It is such poor analysis. Someone should make fun of it. Just substitute other Dem candidates and other rich, "recently established and self-regarded" people from business or entertainment. Creating a new kind of Tory is non-sensical.

Shouting Thomas said...

There's nothing here except for the author fantasizing the motivations and emotional state of people he doesn't like.

"The people I don't like are awful and hateful," isn't much of an argument.

tim in vermont said...

“Social unrest” is a fantasy, a fiction. It implies that there is an underclass that is suffering injustice, when really what we have is a class of people who are angry they are not in charge. A lot of it comes from universities sticking kids with huge debts for degrees in being indoctrinated, which is not that marketable a skill, and compounding the insult, tuition is forced up further by heavy regulation of universities, which creates administrative bloat, every regulation requires an administrator. This is also factored into the non dischargeable student loan debt.

Who would have thought that tweeting about gender injustice was a poor bet for a well paid career?

Mr. Forward said...

I automatically skip any movie with Nicholas Cage. It's a real timesaver.

tim in vermont said...

You missed some good ones then.

rehajm said...

Well, one good one...

Hagar said...

The Whigs was the party of the great landowners. This article starts out on the wrong foot.

rehajm said...

Credit to Yang for garnering enough interest to deserve a hit piece.

tim in vermont said...

Moonstruck, Raising Arizona, Adaptation.

Lance said...

I can't stand the smell of new money. It's awful to think that some people have to earn their fortune.

Lawrence Person said...

Don't forget Cage's cameo in Grindhouse: "And Nicholas Cage as Dr. Fu Manchu!"

Eleanor said...

Take out all of the names. Just think about the idea that the left thinks it knows better what you need than you do. That's paternalism, and it's what makes them tick. I had a conversation yesterday about why I think we should get the federal government out of education and put it back in the hands of the people closest to the children. There was nothing my friend could offer that had improved since Carter formed the Department of Education. Her point was we can't trust "backwoods people" to know what their kids need to know. I think they probably know better than the bureaucrats in DC do. The "soft bigotry of low expectations" colors everything the left wants to do. Except take our money. Then they have high expectations for how willingly we'll all just hand it over.

Mr. Forward said...

I know N. Cage made some good movies, I saw one so bad one time it made up for it.

Anonymous said...

That's a pretty impressive sample of the "pretentious undergraduate" genre.

Doesn't anybody these days have editors? Any adults in the room at all? Nobody who can at least write "this is asinine" in the margin next to a pompous irrelevant Spinoza reference?

Mr. Forward said...

I don’t know if Norm MacDonald is a fat, red faced, self satisfied Tory but I’ve seen him play one on TV.

Danno said...

This Gantz guy is beclowning himself. As someone said above, take any other Democrat candidate and list their rich and/or elite supporters and the groups would be hard to tell apart.

Fernandinande said...

The 20th century philosopher Gage asserted that "I'll be taking these Huggies and whatever cash you got", resenting anything that would dilute or diminish his sense of huggularity.

Darrell said...

Nicolas Cage (not Nickolas) is a name I use to choose movies TO watch. I'm seldom disappointed.

chuck said...

The article would have been better if it didn't mention Tories. You say tomato, I say parsnip.

rcocean said...

10-1 anyone who mentions Spinoza in a political article is pompous twit. Well, at least it wasn't Heidegger.

rcocean said...

The best representatives of the Red Faced Tory are the Blue States Democrats. Wealthy, pompous, paternalistic, and full of sneers at the "Trump Mob". The only difference between Jeff Bezos or Mike Bloomberg and an old fashioned Tory is the 18th century Tory had moral standards and was slightly patriotic.

2nd place goes to the never-trumpers. Will used to call himself an "American Tory" which is a great self-description.

rcocean said...

Most of the celebrities mentioned are pushing Yang because they can't come out of the closet as Republicans or Trump supporters - too dangerous. So, they gravitate to Yang. He's a minority and full of "new ideas" that seem "edgy". Plus, he has zero chance of winning.

MadTownGuy said...

"the era of Trump and populism has evidently made libertarians realize that 'Leave me alone' is no longer a viable political position; they have moved on to 'If I give you some money, will you leave me alone?' "

They'll take your money, but they won't leave you alone. Because they know what's best for you.

CJinPA said...

Norm MacDonald is NOT a "Yang supporter." He just plays one on Twitter.

His recurring debate gag is "I don't hear any of these other candidates offering me $1,000!"

I am 100% - or maybe 98.9% - certain that it's a joke.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Yang's universal income is so bad.

If I give you 5 thousand, will you give me 1000 back? great deal!

Michael K said...

The Whigs was the party of the great landowners. This article starts out on the wrong foot.

After 1800, owning land in England was a money loser. Many of then great landowners were land rich but money poor. After 1800 and especially after the 1835 Reform, the Whigs began to represent the mercantile class.

narciso said...

these are the same people, that hated thatcher, but wanted that fop Heseltine, played by Richard e grant, in the all his oily nature,

Fernandinande said...

philosopher Gage = philosopher Cage. That's as important as the philosophy itself.

Carol said...

why I think we should get the federal government out of education

You won't get much support from state or local school districts. They're hooked on that federal $$$ now.

CJinPA said...

You won't get much support from state or local school districts. They're hooked on that federal $$$ now.

Depends. In PA schools are funded mainly by state and local revenue.

Sebastian said...

"The 17th century philosopher Spinoza asserted that every individual thing strives to persist in its existence, and these magnates certainly follow that universal law,"

Doesn't everyone?

Wince said...

rcocean said...
Most of the celebrities mentioned are pushing Yang because they can't come out of the closet as Republicans or Trump supporters - too dangerous. So, they gravitate to Yang. He's a minority and full of "new ideas" that seem "edgy". Plus, he has zero chance of winning.

Yep.

JMW Turner said...

Don't forget Mister Cage's inspired performance in "Wild at Heart"...

Psota said...

Knowing is a great apocalyptic Nicholas cage movie. Very scary!

William said...

Yang looks to be genuine and likable. Some of his ideas are flaky but I take that as an expression of his sincerity rather than his mendacity. He is not guided by an inner focus group. None of the Dem front runners look like they've ever had an original thought in their lives. If you wish to protest the Dem field currently on offer, he's the logical choice.

Narr said...

Now that I've read Mr. Ganz's entire screed, I may have to give Yang a look. I have seen a few Yang yard signs in my middle-class haunts-- and no others so far.

Narr
First they ignore you, then they mock you . . .

William said...

Cage is good in roles where he plays people who overact. With the right hair piece, he'd be good playing Sanders in the biopic that Hillary is currently producing for Netflix.

n.n said...

Moderate? Liberal or divergent.

DavidUW said...

There are just as many Yang supporters in America as there are Tories from the 1700s currently living in America.

Seeing Red said...

but the era of Trump and populism has evidently made libertarians realize that 'Leave me alone' is no longer a viable political position; they have moved on to 'If I give you some money, will you leave me alone?' in the form of the Freedom Dividend, Yang’s Universal Basic Income proposal. The New American Tories have adopted the classic Tory answer to social unrest — paternalism."


Whaaaa?


Let them eat cake.


It’s self preservation. Or feudalism.

narciso said...

say only 100 million are eligible, 1.2 trillion the first year, that's an unviable formula,

Hagar said...

... the Whigs began to represent the mercantile class.... and transitioned into Gladstone's Liberals, not the Tories.

narciso said...

yes, that's a pretty stark category error, the former are the main protagonist in the early part of trollopes tales,

Anonymous said...

Cage movies: 8mm and Leaving Las Vegas are both great - and greatly disturbing. And he produced Shadow of the Vampire, which is just fantastic.

narciso said...

if i'm going to watch a cage film, might as well make it entertaining, national treasure, heck even gone in 60 seconds, some of his more dramatic work doesn't appeal to me,

Michael K said...

Hagar said...
... the Whigs began to represent the mercantile class.... and transitioned into Gladstone's Liberals, not the Tories.


I've been reading a series of novels about England during the Industrial Revolution by a guy who taught Economic History for ten years. He goes into great detail about how they got started and about land reform in the 19th century. Name is Andrew Wareham and the books are all Kindle books.

Achilles said...

BleachBit-and-Hammers said...
Yang's universal income is so bad.

If I give you 5 thousand, will you give me 1000 back? great deal!


It isn't bad, it is the future.

Why are we taxing labor if we want more jobs?

Why do we have a tax system where if you pay someone $10 you have to give another $3 dollars to the government for the privilege of employing that person?

That same tax system dictates that if you buy a robot to replace that worker for $10 you can pay $3 less in taxes every year until that robot is depreciated.

What are we going to fund the government with when payroll taxes are replaced with automation depreciation write offs?

Why do we have these perverse incentives?

Payroll taxes are teh worst.

Achilles said...

narciso said...
if i'm going to watch a cage film, might as well make it entertaining, national treasure, heck even gone in 60 seconds, some of his more dramatic work doesn't appeal to me,

National Treasure was pure hackery.

8mm was good.

Bilwick said...

I call "liberals" (by which I mean of course "tax-happy, coercion-addicted, power-tripping government humpers and State fellators") the New Tories. If you read some of the proponents of the Divine Right of Kings, today's "liberals" aren't that much different, albeit proposing the Divine Right of Socialists, the Divine Right of Majorities, or some other statist moonshine.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Good luck making "Tory" the next political insult, Johnny.

narciso said...

yes, but it's entertaining in a fluff way, like transformers were for a while, re liberals and tories, that was the distinction in countries as varied as france where they were the radical party, as far as mexico and argentina, the conservatives, were the party of land and the Church,

Balfegor said...

Re: William:

Yang looks to be genuine and likable. Some of his ideas are flaky but I take that as an expression of his sincerity rather than his mendacity. He is not guided by an inner focus group. None of the Dem front runners look like they've ever had an original thought in their lives. If you wish to protest the Dem field currently on offer, he's the logical choice.

I kind of like Yang. Even in the clip where he's spraying cool whip into his supporters' mouths (and his aide is making a face like "please don't"), he just seems to be having fun. He's the only one on the Democratic side who has that "happy warrior" mien. There was another clip I saw of him recently doing the axe dance from Kung Fu Hustle.

At a time when the Democratic party has been become twisted by hatred and wounded pride, he really doesn't seem to hate the voters. I think UBI is a . . at minimum a premature idea, but at least he doesn't seem to be running explicitly for the purposes of screwing over the millions of "deplorable" voters who had the effrontery to vote against the advice of their betters and put Trump in power.

Known Unknown said...

I'll bet 8 or 9 out of 10 Americans have no idea what a Tory is.

DavidUW said...

8 or 9? you mean 95-99/100