Looking at this resume, has this guy ever lifted a finger? He seems so … soft. He’s neither a real academic, a non-profit leader nor a thought leader. He’s some odd American gentry who made a living bouncing between DC and NYC amongst other conservatives in his social class. He’s some bizarre mishmash of Boomer conservatism, working as “an assistant” in many jobs, as his blackshirt has never experienced a single crumble.

I honestly don’t know how some of you manage to (or at least seem to) be on top of so many sources. Part of the reason for me to read here. 🙂

I wish them well, but “not destroy the environment?”

Any organization that thinks humans need to be held back from destroying the environment needs to think more deeply. Humans like to be healthy and clean. The more economic circumstances allow them to live healthy and clean lives, the more they will do so. This is not only human nature; it is innate in most all sentient life on planet Earth.

The parents, grandparents, great, great grandparents (and on, and on) of the New Era Conservatives have been doing what they can to minimize living in filth for generations. To think this is an original enough thought to include in their charter doesn’t instill confidence.

Jen Rubin was never conservative. She was a lawyer turned columnist (initially blogger) who was mainly anti-terrorist post-9/11. That was her big issue, and she supported the right because of it. She had previously been on the left, and as far as I know she never really espoused most of the beliefs on the right. I suspect that her change back to the left was easy for her.

Here is some good news: there is a new small movement on some extreme liberal campuses. It is called New Era Conservatives. Young people determined not to destroy the envionmnet while at the same time preserving the essentials of our democracy and constitution.

My understanding is that Kristol’s new operation is funded by Pierre Omidyar, who’s certainly a Democrat, whether you want to call him a leftist or not. When people say it’s not about the money, it’s not always about the money. It may be about entre into circles where the accepted views are different from one’s own earlier opinions. There’s an element of “going native” there as well.

I don’t think his mother’s passing had much to do with Kristol’s change in views. It’s possible that her death freed him to turn left. Other possibilities are that Himmelfarb wasn’t very strident in her views, or that she’d mellowed over the years, or that she didn’t much like Trump either, or that she disengaged from politics as she aged.

I can give you some Europeans’ reasons. When we discussed this with my wife’s German cousins in the ’90s they thought my wife and I were strange for marrying (“why not just live together?”) and having multiple kids, or even having kids at all. Even in their 20s they were focused on early retirement, travel… And they were onboard with importing immigrants (mainly Turks, at the time) to feed the lower portions of the social welfare pyramid so they would have funding for 30+ years of retirement in a few decades.

Now their attitude has changed. (Although, being typical Germans they will not admit they were wrong.) But they are fatalistic about it. The streets of their villages now echo with the Muslim call to prayer five times a day and crime and violence are up. Que sera, sera. (And we don’t even bring up ecology and energy when talking with them, despite all the times they lectured us about the U.S.’s policies over the years.)