The columnist David Brooks got religion. That’s not a metaphor. Sometime in the last few years he had a religious awakening and it sure has changed what he writes about.
Previously, and maybe still, he was the kind of Republican Trumpites scorn. He seemed like someone who pontificated from the right-of-center about the things East Coast educated elites sniff at as if they were bad smells — the federal deficit, taxing the rich, and the rising cost of higher education. But take a look at
what he wrote, September 30th in the New York Times:
“Over the past few decades there has been a redistribution of dignity — upward. From Reagan through Romney, the Republicans valorized entrepreneurs, C.E.O.s and Wall Street. The Democratic Party became dominated by people in the creative class, who attended competitive colleges, moved to affluent metro areas, married each other and ladled advantages onto their kids so they could leap even farther ahead.”
His new lens enables him to see more clearly across the culture and economy, recognizing his own fluffy crows nest. What got his ire up for the particular column in question, was the general lack of enthusiastic support for the big four trillion dollar-plus Biden initiatives stuck in Congress. His passion was shocking and I felt hope.
I likewise cannot believe the seeming level of indifference in the public over the potential for re-stitching the social safety net and showing some spunk toward climate action that are contained in these stalled bills. Cheer people! Let’s help the big lift going on in D.C.
Brooks went on to write about what has happened in America: “There was a bipartisan embrace of a culture of individualism, which opens up a lot of space for people with resources and social support but means loneliness and abandonment for people without. Four years of college became the definition of the good life, which left roughly two-thirds of the country out.”
He was referencing and bewailing the dismissing of good and prideful work that does not require an advanced degree, and the elimination of so many fields of labor. He is also recognizing that so-called “rugged individualism” is a false virtue aimed at the working class while benefiting the social and economic elites.
There is the 1.5 trillion dollar infrastructure bill that already passed the Senate and is awaiting confirmation by the House, but on top of that is a 3.5 billion dollar bill package includes more infrastructure jobs: improving Veterans hospitals, boosting American manufacturing, job training and workforce development, not to mention free community college education for qualifying students. Even the parts that combat climate change create jobs and careers: home electrification and weatherization, clean power manufacturing, and an environmental youth corps.
Beyond the life-changing expansion of health care, child care, and family leave policies, these bills will deliver jobs, careers, and job training to millions. Not only that, but it will create jobs addressing lead and other pollutants in our drinking water.
We should be shouting for joy and shouting at our representatives to get on the bandwagon. Look at what a measly ten million dollar goose to Geneva can mean. Then consider the possibilities if those bills pass and invest millions in upstate and elsewhere. Jump up and down, call, write, cheer. Help make it happen.
If only they would listen. Hope your blog hoes to West Virginia and Arizona
Even upstate NY where it is quite red too.
Good afternoon, Rev. Miller.
I started looking to David Brooks again some five year ago, after I heard him describe Steve Bannon as the “reincarnation of Leon Trotsky”, an anarchist who thought “burning it all down” was necessary to bringing about yet another “new man”. Bannon, that is.
Brooks’ recent turn from toxic entrepreneurship as if it were some laudable thing, and instead, looking toward finding The Commons again is, in my mind, pretty remarkable, and hopeful. The fact that the stateless oligarchy that are on top of the economic heap finds this new infrastructure plan so noxious is, however, telling. The ability of that group to throw a wrench in the works so easily leaves me less hopeful that we can step away from the way we’ve been doing things. As one of my more insightful mayors said to a friend a couple of years ago, “this way we’ve been keeping score just isn’t working very well anymore”.
My years as a small town administrator out here gave me a window into just how stressed our “infrastructure” is, and how constrained our ability (or willingness) is to address it. From daycare, to water and sewer systems, streets and bridges, social support agencies and public safety, and the thin thread holding EMT and ambulance services together in “red” NE Iowa and NW Illinois has left me grateful to have passed those responsibilities on to younger people. And stunned that those folks leading the charge against these very services, would so eagerly have the angered folks who fear their “replacement” by some “Others” throw a brick through that window rather than build one. All while convincing us that we are every man-jack one of us Rugged Individualists, who will see our Horatio Alger moment if we just accept their truths.
Thanks for the posting.
Tim
Thank you Tim, I hadn’t thought about his change coinciding with the logical conclusion of Republicanism that happened in 2016. I think he has a book out about his awakening but not sure. Sounds as if you have had a front seat with a harrowing ride. Thank you for your wise and experienced response.
You’re welcome, Cam. Honestly, of the thirty years I spent in the role, twenty of them were pretty satisfying. The elected folks generally just wanted their communities to work better for most people – you know, basics like reasonable, regular and environmentally sound trash pickup, well maintained water and sewer systems, that the lights were reliably on when you flipped the switch (my experience in municipal electric communities was remarkable and enlightening – no pun intended), police and public safety personnel were sufficient for the job, well trained and paid, that the streets were cleared of snow and otherwise maintained and people were expected to follow the rules. The change came after the ’08 election, and the libertarian-ish folks all turned up at every council meeting, challenging everything in their acknowledged effort to stop government from “interfering with their lives”. Their leadership was from folks who had “done well” in those old ways of keeping score. It was pretty universal, from conversations with my peers, and the “aginners” operated from goals and ideals stemming from the same folks that Jane Mayer wrote about in Dark Money. At the time, it was hard for me to believe that folks would be so willing to hogtie basic maintenance, right down to shorting libraries for funding. I believe now.
As an aside, I hadn’t realized Mr. Brooks’ life was upended in ways he probably hadn’t anticipated. I know something of that story, and that helps explain his different look at the world.
Thanks again!
Good article, Cam. David Brooks did an about face (kind of gradually) after his wife of 30+ years left him. He did a lot of self examination and has morphed into who he is today. I find him thought-provoking and insightful. He has lots of experience inside the beltway so I take his opinions seriously. He wrote a book, “The Second Mountain” as a result of his life changing experiences.
That sounds good. I knew he had written a book but didn’t know what it was about or what crisis provoked his re-awakening. Even before that, while I rarely agreed with his columns they were so well written and smart that I read him anyway.