Elitism and the Democratic Party, Part I

If you were to ask me to describe today's Democratic Party in one word, one of the words at the top of my list would be "elitist." The online dictionary describes elitism as "consciousness of or pride in belonging to a select or favored group" (often described as a ruling class). My own definition of elitism would be "the arrogance of power." Elitist people think that their superior education and position of authority give them the right to look down their noses at the "little people." Law is simply what they dictate to the common rabble in their infinite wisdom; such ordinary laws, of course, do not apply to them. The little people, not having receiving Ivy League college educations, are generally ignorant, prejudiced, and intolerant; fortunately they are also easily led, which explains why elitists assume the public will let them get away with the most outrageous words and behavior. Because elitists think they know better than the masses, they are constantly trying to take more power and control away from the individual and wield it themselves.

Now, elitism exists in many places. There is a significant amount of elitism in Hollywood, the academic community, and Wall Street, for example. However, I think the modern Democratic Party's elitism is incredibly flagrant, because unlike Hollywood, academic, and Wall Street elites, Democratic politicians are actually holding public office and are serving only at the pleasure of the voters. This means that we have a unique opportunity to end the elitism in Washington by showing up at the polls in November.

Much could be written about the elitism of Democratic ideology. In almost every area of public policy, the Democrats stand for taking rights and control away from individual people and private businesses and centralizing that control in the hands of an increasingly powerful federal government. Here are some examples:

1. Health care. Most Democrats in Congress want government-run, single-payer health care. This inevitably takes power away from individual patients, doctors, and health insurers and centralizes it in the hands of government bureaucrats and agencies. In a true government-run system like the British system, all major decisions about who gets care, who gives care, when they get care, how much the care costs, and what types of care will be approved are made by the government. ObamaCare is a major step in that direction, as it authorized the creation of over 100 new government boards and agencies.

2. Environment. Most Democrats in Congress support cap-and-trade legislation, which essentially subsidizes unprofitable alternative energy sources by increasing costs (and thus consumer prices) on traditional energy sources. The effect of such legislation vastly increases government control over the energy producing sector of our economy at the expense of businesses and consumers. Democrats also favor many other types of environmental legislation, most of which involves increased regulation of the private sector, harsh and unnecessary mandates on businesses, and decreased individual property rights.

3. Judicial System. Most Democrats favor bringing about social change by nominating activist judges who declare laws unconstitutional based on their opinions about justice rather than the actual words of the Constitution (essentially legislating from the bench). Obama's recent nominees to the Supreme Court follow this philosophy. This approach to the courts takes power away from the people to enact laws through their elected representatives and centralizes power in a few judges who are appointed for life and have no accountability to the people for their decisions. It also diminishes the rule of law in our society by allowing judges to ignore the original intent and the plain meaning of the Constitution and interpret certain clauses so broadly that they become meaningless.

4. Taxes and Spending. By and large, Democrats tend to favor increased taxation and higher spending. Generally, these two things go together, as increased spending requires increased taxation in order to pay for it. Since Obama took office, he and his allies in Congress spent $800 billion on an economic stimulus bill that had more to do with earmarks and payoffs to special interests than it did with stimulating the economy. They also spent nearly a trillion on a new health care entitlement, and billions and billions more in various bailout packages and "reforms" of various industries. This spending tripled our deficit in Obama's first year alone, and adds to our already crippling national debt which is projected to reach almost unsustainable levels in just a few years. Of course, these bills also included many new taxes, fees, and mandates for individuals and businesses, and the Democrats have also proposed eliminating the Bush tax cuts. The upshot of these tax-and-spend economic policies is to move control over more and more of the dollars in our economy out of the hands of individuals and into the hands of the federal government. More taxation and spending by the government means less spending, decisions, and freedoms for individuals and private businesses.

5. Education. Most Democratic politicians oppose commonsense education ideas like merit pay for teachers and school vouchers. Although such policies would likely improve the quality of education and increase the power of parents to make choices about their children's education, they are opposed by teacher's unions which oppose any challenge to the government monopoly on education.

6. Gun Control. Many Democratic politicians want increased government restrictions on gun ownership and gun rights, with some liberal cities going as far as banning handguns altogether. Such policies restrict individual rights and increase government power (not to mention violating the Constitution).

These are just a few examples of how the elitism of the Democratic Party manifests itself through legislation. However, perhaps the thing that is most striking to me is how vocal many Democratic politicians are in expressing their contempt for the little people and the rule of law. That will be the subject of Part II of this post, coming soon.