I used to be a populist, but it got too expensive. I couldnt afford the rent in D.C., the dry cleaning, the taxis home from parties on Connecticut Ave. So I moved back home, got a job with a local business, and married a cute girl I met at church. Now were living happily ever after.
No, Im not a populistIm the populace. (Sorry.) And Im glad for that.
Look, I love the Republican base. I am the Republican base. But when you live out here in the sticks, you dont write paeans to the multiracial working-class. Lower-income Americans are getting screwed; theres no question about that. But a huge amount of that misery is self-inflicted.
Case in point: The other day I was going to split wood at my uncles farm in Derry, New Hampshire. Derry is just north of Massachusetts, so property values are pretty high. I passed a trailer park. Without fail, every single home had a brand-new pickup in the driveway. How can they afford those vehicles? There are only two possible answers. Either they dont have children, or theyre not very attentive parents.
Number two may sound harsh, but it must be true. I find it hard to believe that theyre living frugal, sober livessocking away as much cash as they can so their kids can have every advantageand their only comfort in life is a shiny new F-150. (Leases starting at $500 per month.)
Trucks are a hang-up of mine because I love them, too. But, like the Republican base, they seem to be on the decline, and for the same reason.
To put it bluntly, the GOP is no longer a pro-family party. True, its still wedded to the Bible Belt. The social-conservative lobby in Washington still holds a bit of sway. But, in retrospect, the Trump presidency marked a definite shift in party culture. It no longer feels like the party of suburban dads and soccer moms, because its not.
Think about the tools who drive around with the flags that say Fk Biden and Fk You for Voting for Him. Theyre probably not dads. If they are dads, theyre probably not good dads. And yet the Republican Party is increasingly pandering to them.
Actually, TAC contributing editor Matthew Schmitz noticed this shift taking place way back in 2018 in an opinion piece for the New York Times. He said that the Red State/Blue State model is looking a bit dated. Its not about conservatives vs. liberal anymore, because Republicans arent really conservative the way they used to be:
A third model can be found among working-class whites, blacks and Hispanicslets call it purple. In these families, bonds between mothers and children are prized above those between couples. Unstable relationships are the norm, and fathers quickly end up out of the picture.
Baffling as it may be to elites, Mr. Trump embodies a real if imperfect model of family values. People familiar with the purple family model tend to view his alienation from his childrens mother as normal and his closeness to his children as exceptional and admirable.
Much as I admire Schmitz, I think Im with the elites on this oneagain, maybe because those people are my neighbors. In fact, my family and I are moving this year, in no small part because the noise pollution has gotten so bad. And all of it falls into three categories.
First are the tools with the pickup trucksvirtually none of whom actually need trucks. And yet they get the model with the loudest engine, turbo, etc.
Second are the motorcycles. These are probably the same guys as the trucks. Ive noticed that not only are the engines getting louder and louder, but theyve also started using their radiossomething my father and grandfather (both bikers) thought was taboo.
Third are the white trash kids with riced-out hatchbacks. They all pay extra for the loudest muffler, the bumping stereo, and whatever it is that makes the engine backfire.
In other words, its all totally unnecessary. Their vehicles dont need to be that loud. They pay extra for that.
Noise pollution can have serious long-term effects on childrens health. In the meantime, it wakes up our baby from her nap. It wakes us up from a sound sleep in the middle of the night. In the warmer months, it makes playing outside or working at the picnic table impossible.
Im sure many of the parents (and otherwise responsible adults) reading this article will know what Im talking about. And, believe it or not, most states have laws against modifying a vehicle to make it louder. Theyre just not enforced, even in Republican states.
Why? Because the GOP is no longer the party of parents (or otherwise responsible adults). Its the party of single dudes and negligent fathers. They think its only libtards in their Priuses who get irritated by their souped-up GMCs howling down the road at 2 a.m. when theyre driving home from the bar blasting Kid Rock.
Its not. Its also conservative Christians who are trying to raise a family in something like peace and quiet.
And, yes, the Trump years made things worse in this respect. Donald Trump made the right meaner, angrier, and less considerate, even as he made the Dems deranged. Its not an Orange Man Bad thing, but the rhetoric of the moment. If and when my kids learn the F-word, itll probably be from one of those tools in a Silverado with a Fk Biden flag blasting We the People on the radio.
Hey, like I said, these are my people. Theyre my neighbors, my cousins, my aunts, my uncles. I do love them, and I thank God for them. But Im not a populist. I cant romanticize the multiracial working class, because Ive met them. Theyre not a plank for the Republican platform. Theyre human beings with virtues and vices, like me. Like you.
Thats why I was glad to read that New York is cracking down on noise pollution. Cameras and microphones are being installed around the city to automatically flag too-loud vehicles. Gov. Kathy Hochul also signed the SLEEP Act, which raises existing fines for vehicles that are modified to be noisier. Mechanics who make these modifications risk losing their operating license or if theyre caught too many times.
According to The City, theres been a surge in noise complaints since the beginning of the pandemic. We saw the same thing here in New Hampshire. Many businesses shut down, while the rest are desperate for workers; meanwhile, the number of expensive vehicles with expensive modifications has exploded. I think there are two main reasons:
First, most of the middle-class guys who got Covid bailout money didnt need the extra cash, so they blew it on a big toy. And second, lots of young men who worked minimum-wage jobs got their first taste of welfare thanks to Trump Bucks. So, they decided to quit their jobs, settle into their parents basement, and enjoy life as a welfare queen.
Critics of New Yorks crackdown are calling it a tax on the underclass. Good! Tax em up the wazoo. Why should working families have to suffer so these guys can go VROOM VROOM VROOMMMMMMM?
Noise pollution is a public health issue. Prolonged exposure causes high blood pressure, hearing loss, and anxiety. It can impair childrens mental development, especially their language skills. As Micah Meadowcroft wrote in these pages just last year,
In the observed birds, the noise of traffic hindered vocal development and song learning. Moreover, noise was an enormous stressor for chicks and fledglings, suppressing their immune systems. Were torturing the songbirds. They cant sing as well as they used to. What are we doing to us?
Hey, who knows? Maybe those guys are the victims of noise pollution, too. Maybe their dads loud trucks killed so many of their brain cells that they turned into the kinds of people who think loud trucks are cool. Really, New York is doing them a favor. Hopefully other states will follow suit.
Michael Warren Davisis author ofThe Reactionary Mind. Subscribe to his newsletter,The Common Man.
Read the original:
Noise Pollution and Why Populism Failed - The American Conservative
- US election: how populists encourage blind mistrust and how to push back - The Conversation - December 19th, 2023 [December 19th, 2023]
- Lessons from the Netherlands on the rise of the populist radical right - UK in a Changing Europe - December 19th, 2023 [December 19th, 2023]
- Opinion | From Jacobites to Populists - The New York Times - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- Why Right Wing Populism Is Unable To Address the Climate Crisis - Impakter - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- In our debased world, a new, benign Manhattan Project is ... - The New European - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- Populism has given the elites more power than ever - Financial Times - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Starmer should beware a Left-wing insurgency - UnHerd - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- The French Far-Right Tsunami Is Coming - The Media Line - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Can Spain hold back the right? - The New European - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Populism, authoritarianism and agrarian struggles - Transnational Institute - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Mainstream Conservatives Are On The Run in Europe, Too - POLITICO - June 30th, 2023 [June 30th, 2023]
- Opinion: The Perils Of Populism - Hingham Anchor - June 30th, 2023 [June 30th, 2023]
- In the global struggle with populism, elections are a salve - Frederick News Post - June 30th, 2023 [June 30th, 2023]
- Column: The push me-pull you of political populism - Omaha World-Herald - June 30th, 2023 [June 30th, 2023]
- Why the World Is on the Brink of Great Disorder - TIME - June 30th, 2023 [June 30th, 2023]
- Europe's liberals should take a page or two out of the populist movement's book - Euronews - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Smith, Trump and the Paranoid Populist Assault on Democracy - TheTyee.ca - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Other GOP candidates still pave the way for Trump's vile populism - National Catholic Reporter - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Terrorism and voting: The rise of right-wing populism in Germany - CEPR - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- From Donald Trump to Danielle Smith: 4 ways populists are ... - The Conversation - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- Pluralism vs. Ultra-Nationalism: The Real Cleavage Behind Turkey's ... - E-International Relations - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- The Erdogan era lives on, as does the power of populism - asianews.network - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- Democratic backsliding in Mexico: Lessons for opponents of ... - Wilson Center - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- Can Ron DeSantis Out-Populist Donald Trump to Win the GOP ... - Boston University - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- Danger of populism - Daily Pioneer - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- Algeria: A populist leader challenging our notions of what is possible in the Middle East - Middle East Monitor - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- How Imran Khan's populism has divided Pakistan and put it on a knife's edge - The Conversation - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Slovakia to Get 'Expert' Government But Return to Populism Looms - Balkan Insight - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Portuguese president: empowering youth will be the death of populism - EURACTIV - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- LETTER TO THE EDITOR: The anti-intellectualism of conservative ... - Winnipeg Free Press - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- The populism of Matthew Goodwinand its many problems - Prospect Magazine - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- The Business Nightmare of Dealing with Government - The New York Times - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Ciarn Fitzgerald: Focus on food prices is mere populism - Agriland - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Populism in the United States - Wikipedia - February 26th, 2023 [February 26th, 2023]
- What is Populism? | Political Science - Stanford University - February 5th, 2023 [February 5th, 2023]
- Why Populism Is Rising And How To Combat It - Forbes - February 5th, 2023 [February 5th, 2023]
- Mexicos Dying Democracy: AMLO and the Toll of Authoritarian Populism - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- Trump, Brexit, and the Rise of Populism: Economic Have-Nots and ... - December 26th, 2022 [December 26th, 2022]
- Pope lunches with poor, denounces sirens of populism - December 21st, 2022 [December 21st, 2022]
- 3 steps forward, but 2.5 back for populism - bangkokpost.com - November 25th, 2022 [November 25th, 2022]
- Pence warns of 'unprincipled populism,' 'Putin apologists' - Fox 34 - October 21st, 2022 [October 21st, 2022]
- London lesson: The 44-day govt in Britain is a reminder to our politicians to give up fiscal populism - Times of India - October 21st, 2022 [October 21st, 2022]
- Left-wing populism - Wikipedia - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Populism on the rise in Canada as unelectable Pierre Poilievre sweeps ... - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- The Left Is Demonizing PopulistsFor Pushing What the Left Once ... - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- DAILY | Poilievre vs. Media Party; Trudeau on populism, disinfo; Mayor ... - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Globalization is fueling the populism surging across the Western world - The Hill - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Smith rides high on populist wave Winnipeg Free Press - Winnipeg Free Press - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- J. D. Vance and the Collapse of Dignity - The Atlantic - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- 7 non-fiction book releases to add to your TBR - The Daily Vox - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Ian Bremmer: How crises opened the way for some positive change in Europe - New Zealand Herald - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- From OPRF to Poland with a focus on Ukraine - Wednesday Journal - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Florida's DeSantis takes conservative populism to the Rust Belt - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Journalism and the Threat of Neo-Populism - Geopoliticalmonitor.com - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- History As It Happens: The 'fake' populists - Washington Times - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- European populist parties vote share on the rise, especially on right - Pew Research Center - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- DYER: Progress and decline of populism Red Deer Advocate - Red Deer Advocate - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- The Populist Pugilist Vying to Replace Conor Lamb - The American Prospect - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Understanding Europes shift to the right - POLITICO Europe - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Trump still "king" and "kingmaker" to some in Pennsylvania - CBS News - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Investigation reveals Poilievre, populist and pro-natural gas groups spread fertilizer disinformation to whip up outrage against Trudeau - Canada's... - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Citizens or consumers | The Times - The Wellington Times - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- The Challenges of Epistemic Communities in Shaping Policy in the Age of Post-Truth - E-International Relations - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- The EU, not Meloni, is the threat to democracy - Arab News - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Bulgaria's elections could threaten NATO and EU unity on Ukraine - Washington Examiner - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- I'm not optimistic about the future of the global economy and I don't expect the next 10 years to be particularly good - CTech - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Brazil's election: The rise and impact of populism - University of Michigan News - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- Opinion | Right-Wing Populism May Rise in the U.S. - The Wall Street Journal - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- Survey: Right-wing populism ex pat Estonians' main negative image of home - ERR News - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- Jair Bolsonaro's Hard-Right Populism Is Horrifying. But He Didn't Come From Nowhere. - Jacobin magazine - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- The Wild Ones - by Nick Catoggio - The Dispatch - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- Political scientists to study populist rhetoric as a threat to democracy - The Source - Washington University in St. Louis - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Italy's opposition blame disunity and populism for defeat - Reuters - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Utopian Nostalgia and the Radical Right - The Dispatch - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Constitution Day Lecture to be Given by Political Science Professor Najib Ghadbian - University of Arkansas Newswire - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- GAIL LETHBRIDGE: No one should underestimate appeal of Poilievre populism - SaltWire Halifax powered by The Chronicle Herald - September 17th, 2022 [September 17th, 2022]
- The power of populism - Business Standard - September 17th, 2022 [September 17th, 2022]
- Adam Zivo: The timing was right for Pierre Poilievre's populism - National Post - September 17th, 2022 [September 17th, 2022]
- In Miami, the post-Trump populist right speaks to its base and courts donors - Yahoo News - September 17th, 2022 [September 17th, 2022]
- Long live populism - spiked - August 15th, 2022 [August 15th, 2022]