<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Hi Bob, et al;<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I am currently taking a course on the death of American liberalism. The course summary is as follows:</div><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div class=""><font size="2" class=""><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Arial; background-color: rgb(246, 240, 231);" class="">Liberalism is dead. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about liberals. From their privileged perches in the tonier parts of New York, San Francisco, London, Toronto and other large metropolises, these elites look down their noses at others and prescribe acceptable behaviour, attitudes and speech. They cling to an ideology that has long outlived its usefulness. They talk progressive but their parties have been bought and paid for by large corporations. They not only impede progress to solve society’s real problems (not things such as the use of unacceptable language), they actually create the political fortunes of people like the Fords, Trump, Johnson and others. They are out of touch with the issues facing people in vast swaths of their countries outside their bubble enclaves. So, what must happen now? We’ll look at the reasons for the collapse of liberalism and what new political philosophies will emerge to finally kill it off and do things that address what actually needs to be done in the troubled world we face. Actually, we are already in the midst of a political realignment. We’ll look at it and specifically what it means in Canada.</span></font></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div class=""><font size="2" class=""><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Arial; background-color: rgb(246, 240, 231);" class=""> </span></font></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div class=""><font size="2" class=""><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Arial; background-color: rgb(246, 240, 231);" class="">Or maybe you disagree. That's fine. Let’s discuss what’s going on politically here and elsewhere. Maybe liberalism is going to make a comeback. It’ll have to adapt radically . Can it?</span></font></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div class=""><font size="2" class=""><br style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Arial;" class=""></font></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div class=""><font size="2" class=""><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Arial; background-color: rgb(246, 240, 231);" class="">Moderator: John Simke</span></font></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div class=""><font size="2" class=""><br style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Arial;" class=""></font></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div class=""><font size="2" class=""><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Arial; background-color: rgb(246, 240, 231);" class="">Dates: March 19 to April 2 (3 weeks)</span></font></div></blockquote></blockquote><div class=""><font color="#2a2a2a" face="Arial" size="2" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(246, 240, 231);" class=""><br class=""></span></font></div><div class="">So far, the course has been long on analysis, and short on solutions. This Friday is our final class, which is titled: “The fraud of meritocracy: A possible future scenario. Political re-alignment”</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">In brief, our instructor is advocating that we think liberalism is DEAD. Thomas Frank may be experiencing that too.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Have a good discussion;</div><div class="">Allan</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Mar 31, 2021, at 8:38 AM, Rob Anderson via craic <<a href="mailto:craic@lists.integralshift.ca" class="">craic@lists.integralshift.ca</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class="">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class=""><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class="">Gentlemen,</div><div dir="ltr" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="ltr" class="">Should we have some controversial discussion?</div><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thomas Frank, still one of my North Star political commentators. Recently, he got himself into a sea of troubles with his piece in The Guardian, entitled </div><div class="">“Liberals want to blame right-wing ‘misinformation’ for their problems. Get real.” For his thoughts, he got back a great big “Fuck you, Frank!” My concern here is falling into the same trap that always threatens progressive movements...get them to divide into silos of cultural recrimination so that they can be conquered by the power brokers in pursuit of more bank vaults of wealth.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">My Proposed Topic for Discussion & Debate:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Liberal and increasingly intolerant cultural progressivists relying on blaming a lengthy list of oppressors with an increasingly lengthy list of shaming terms...colonialist, sexist, racist, transphobic, discriminatory gaslighter... to the detriment of fighting in the trenches the economic wars of stark inequality has won the Democrats an affluent base in the suburbs and the coastal cities but cost them their now thoroughly alienated blue collar base which Hilary so easily termed the “deplorables. Big trouble lies ahead!</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Bob</div><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-size: 16px;" class="">In 2004, </span><em style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-size: 16px;" class="">What’s the Matter With Kansas? </em><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-size: 16px;" class="">offered an explanation that was soothing, on its face. The core thesis was that cultural issues replaced economics as the primary driver of decision-making in the heartland, and Republicans were winning by appeals to evangelical Christianity, racism, and other passions. This explanation was alluring to a lot of Democrats at the time, among other things because it absolved the party of blame for losing influence. </span></div><div class=""><font color="#1a1a1a" size="3" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class=""><br class=""></span></font></div><div class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-size: 16px;" class="">Few, however, remembered the end of the book, which warned of a negative trajectory within the Democratic Party. While Republicans “were industriously fabricating their own class-based language of the right” and “made their populist appeal to blue-collar voters,” Democrats were “giving those same voters—their traditional base—the big brush-off.”</span><font color="#1a1a1a" size="3" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class=""><br class=""></span></font><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><div class="gmail_quote"><br class=""><span style="font-size: 16px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">This warning — that becoming the party of “affluent, white-collar professionals who are liberal on social issues” would ultimately backfire — proved prophetic, not that it did Frank any good</span></div><div class="gmail_quote"><font color="#1a1a1a" size="3" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><br class=""></span></font><div style="font-kerning:auto" class=""><img src="https://mailgun.substack.com/api/v1/email/open?token=eyJtIjoiPDIwMjEwMzMwMjI1NDQxLjEuNzJkMjg4OWE1YjEwYWQzNTQ5ZGJhNDNmNGViNDkxNWZAbWcyLnN1YnN0YWNrLmNvbT4iLCJ1IjoxOTM1Mzk3NywiciI6Im1hcnllbGl6YWJldGhhbmRlcnNvbjNAZ21haWwuY29tIiwiZCI6Im1nMi5zdWJzdGFjay5jb20iLCJwIjozNDU1NjQwOCwicyI6MTA0MiwiYyI6InBvc3QiLCJmIjp0cnVlLCJpYXQiOjE2MTcxNDQ5MjMsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0wIiwic3ViIjoiZW8ifQ.EuW-0e2Ze_jySU_-5Af2nrRq7wZdduUzRq1PMecjCVc" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" style="height:1px!important;width:1px!important;border-width:0!important;margin-top:0!important;margin-bottom:0!important;margin-right:0!important;margin-left:0!important;padding-top:0!important;padding-bottom:0!important;padding-right:0!important;padding-left:0!important" data-unique-identifier="" class=""><div style="display:none;font-size:1px;color:#333333;line-height:1px;max-height:0px;max-width:0px;opacity:0;overflow:hidden" class="">The celebrated author writes an article in the Guardian opposing censorship, and is stunned by the negative response from political kindred spirits </div><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""></td><td width="550" class=""></td><td class=""></td></tr><tr class=""><td class=""></td><td align="left" width="550" class=""><div style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 auto;max-width:550px;width:100%" class=""><table width="auto" class="m_-3040991187942224293header" style="border-spacing:0;padding:15px 0"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td align="center" style="padding:0;text-align:center" class=""><a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVksmu4jAQRb-G7ECeMi2yQAzdIMjT60ZMm8iOi8SN40SJI0i-vg2snmS7pNKtQfc45xaKuh2Spu6s93oyOzSQGHh0GqyF1us7aDMlExxTn8Zh6MmESRz5kae67NYCVFzpxLY9eE0vtMq5VbV5VyBGvDIJQyQExpEIAiIpjmKE-Q0JSf0wDCFGn7G8lwpMDklt9PDu6-mktLbpJnQ-IWt3LFdCqFnXi87y_D7L68plG3dL3k15Ba0bbqZaCWi5Vl015YIbWRuQUxmSCV3b-g5mQpcwbHFOjsOZ6PvmX_38OuzxfrzTdHio_Fc8ynXcXBebYD9-4_RwQftl0W0qXcpX7nB5puMKpcv7sHd6fk5H10Plv49qd1g90uVG7RbbUZ426kttH4KmaHfe6sspRfwU9xuDZsfrVawu6VPTspE2P_8hy8ez_uvz4xyC06KYnx9HElSa0G9PJQQRjChFhPiM4RmehUSSKIq5LzDizkcWS8EZvTEQLMb-bcJQVZAfRnltUvF2AK1GLsCWzhdou9pQpy1eBN8iBzBzseqNskMGhgsN8sPWfr7Im3ZWgHEWW5AZtwkOcIgZi4lbJPzAdPAp8_2AochzW8jaVZnkw-8_-q7SqQ" target="_blank" class=""><img width="550" src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1100,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F907f97c6-0744-4f54-b1b4-8424b7bf3544_1100x220.png" style="border:none!important;display:block;height:auto;margin:0 auto;max-width:550px;vertical-align:middle;width:100%" data-unique-identifier="" class=""></a></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="m_-3040991187942224293post" style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px;padding:9px 0"><div style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px" class=""><h1 style="color:#1a1a1a;font-family:'SF Compact Display',-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:1.625em;font-weight:bold;line-height:130%;margin:0.378em 0 0 0" class=""><a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVksmu4jAQRb-G7ECeMi2yQAzdIMjT60ZMm8iOi8SN40SJI0i-vg2snmS7pNKtQfc45xaKuh2Spu6s93oyOzSQGHh0GqyF1us7aDMlExxTn8Zh6MmESRz5kae67NYCVFzpxLY9eE0vtMq5VbV5VyBGvDIJQyQExpEIAiIpjmKE-Q0JSf0wDCFGn7G8lwpMDklt9PDu6-mktLbpJnQ-IWt3LFdCqFnXi87y_D7L68plG3dL3k15Ba0bbqZaCWi5Vl015YIbWRuQUxmSCV3b-g5mQpcwbHFOjsOZ6PvmX_38OuzxfrzTdHio_Fc8ynXcXBebYD9-4_RwQftl0W0qXcpX7nB5puMKpcv7sHd6fk5H10Plv49qd1g90uVG7RbbUZ426kttH4KmaHfe6sspRfwU9xuDZsfrVawu6VPTspE2P_8hy8ez_uvz4xyC06KYnx9HElSa0G9PJQQRjChFhPiM4RmehUSSKIq5LzDizkcWS8EZvTEQLMb-bcJQVZAfRnltUvF2AK1GLsCWzhdou9pQpy1eBN8iBzBzseqNskMGhgsN8sPWfr7Im3ZWgHEWW5AZtwkOcIgZi4lbJPzAdPAp8_2AochzW8jaVZnkw-8_-q7SqQ" style="color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:none" target="_blank" class="">Has American Liberalism Abandoned Free Speech? Interview With Thomas Frank</a></h1><h3 style="color:#757575;font-family:'SF Compact Display',-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:19px;font-weight:normal;line-height:1.16em;margin:4px 0 0" class="">The celebrated author writes an article in the Guardian opposing censorship, and is stunned by the negative response from political kindred spirits</h3><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-3040991187942224293post-meta" style="margin:0 0 10px"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class="m_-3040991187942224293post-meta-item" style="color:#757575;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:14px;font-weight:300;height:20px;line-height:20px;padding:7px 12px 7px 0;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:middle"><a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVkE2OhCAQhU_T7Nrwq7Jg0Zu5hgEpbTIIBspMnNMPratJSEEqr6j3vtkirLmcZs8VyadMeO5gEvzUCIhQyFGhTMEbpoUSehiIN9KzUY0k1GkpAJsN0WA5gOyHi2G2GHK6Jqjk5G2010pqyXo994vzdOaCLbTn4IaeeervtfbwAdIMJqd4Xv-SaN6Ie32I14N_tYM2OBe6eriKdv7u5ry17g55j9AevBdUiedmEZ-3lATDKWdUCMq5kpJ1rBu45-OorXKMWi-aM--sFIsEJzVTy0PSbeX_lpBiNltOiOHXOsC3TR5KzUk07fpJf4la-Knd25ECnhMk6yL4mwveeC9S0woJSsPuJ4uG9WxgUmrejAw3iAZOSKV6SUfSXPjcppK5A_0BuVKP0g" style="color:#757575;display:block;text-decoration:none" target="_blank" class="">Matt Taibbi</a></td><td class="m_-3040991187942224293post-meta-item" style="color:#757575;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:14px;font-weight:300;height:20px;line-height:20px;padding:7px 12px 7px 0;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:middle;white-space:nowrap">Mar 30</td><td class="m_-3040991187942224293post-meta-item" style="color:#757575;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:14px;font-weight:300;height:20px;line-height:20px;margin-right:0;padding:7px 12px 7px 0;padding-right:0;text-decoration:none;text-indent:3px;vertical-align:middle;white-space:nowrap"><span class=""><a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVUk2Pm0AM_TXh1mi--DpwWGWbLGkhShWV7F7QMOOQSWCgw9CU_PoOSXtYybIly35-tp_gFurOTEnfDdabXWmnHhINt6EBa8F44wCmVDLBMfVpHIaeTJjEkR95aihPBqDlqkmsGcHrx6pRglvV6UcHYsQ7J1KefD8mmLGTjDghEatEDJHvVygIJZDnWD5KBVpA0ulmeuB6TXK2th8W9GVB1s4sV1WllsNYDZaL61J0rcvyXjn_Gzs3A7nwYPTFABczkwVd2-4KLr7CtMWC_JyOpLmml-7P7pDh7H6l-XRTYhPf5TruP1ZpkN33OD-8o-y1HlK9bd6LHPEiHl2PYj25puqmeLFGM0Z--Uqzwx7tDun9-2rbC5qpndreZJHa7PCCMpU6jBy_qzT4hKXRMl8VvDWFqDdvP65tPX1U3TnUU_Cmj7-O-UZcUvStPg5in90WJBhtWw7daAS4Vf4f4V--BanGdl5x3t1TCUEEI0oRIT5jeImXIZEkimLuVxhxSX0Wy4ozemJQsRj7pwVDbU0-HdczScvNBI268wrsmWsJZug0dbX1POdR5J5eutiOWtmpBM2rBuRTD_YpqwensgYNxslNltwmOMChE0RMHJHwKQAnGMp8P2Ao8hwL2bkunTx__hfYqOVK" style="color:#757575;display:block;text-decoration:none" target="_blank" class=""><img src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_30,c_scale,f_png,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack.com%2Ficon%2FHeartIcon%3Fv%3D2%26height%3D20" width="15" height="20" style="border:none!important;float:left;height:20px;max-width:15px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto" alt="" data-unique-identifier="" class=""></a></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div class="m_-3040991187942224293post" style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px;padding:9px 0"><div class="m_-3040991187942224293markup" style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin-bottom:12px;word-break:break-word"><div style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin-bottom:16px;margin-top:0;text-align:center" class=""><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="margin:8px auto" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td style="text-align:center" class=""></td><td align="left" width="550" style="text-align:center" class=""><a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVUsuu3CAM_ZrJLlF4DbBgcVWpvxEZcDLoJpAC6W3u15dJuqmEbGN87CMfHFRcUj7Nnkrt3maq544m4ldZsVbM3VEwT8EboplgWsrOG-6JEqoLZZoz4gZhNTUf2O2HXYODGlK8ECOn3ctoiU-YR0kce1qO4LmbhdAKJPNupvIeC4cPGB2aFNfz6tut5lXrXh7s40F_tuN8HMphSwX3Obi0tVTYYMHmZ6zu9fatT00P-uPXHbCPJSXf7vM67TktGUsJv7HlS0XcG-IeQcV7iHiPacYe7hPbe-5xFNY6xXsLwHrOJPZaENWDt4xalFIrPhQ2wAbfKcJXuXm1HvcurvAiWa5QSMmV0LpvPaHn6Eiv5pn1oMTMmXaUzXwi6sn-EMr1sMelC4aOlIyMjZQKzslABkk9VUqDsGQEzwTX3gJvULRcEzE_-Lgt9L9dddlskE9cwzdYrC-IHnNJkbXa5a3gVdRIT81vRwz1nDCCXdHf2tb7i1xqTwtGzO3r-AmqIU8iCeeaNiL_xGziMy7Ek4-qayx8aqhoKgRrw1_KS8uW" style="border:none;display:block;height:auto;margin:0;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding:0;text-decoration:none;width:auto" target="_blank" class=""><img alt="" width="550" src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_2912,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F57748599-c84a-4ec1-8ff3-a85f439c23f4_1863x1249.png" style="border:none!important;display:block;height:auto;margin:0 auto;margin-bottom:0;max-width:550px;vertical-align:middle;width:100%" data-unique-identifier="" class=""></a></td><td style="text-align:center" class=""></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">Writer Thomas Frank published a piece in <em class="">The Guardian </em>last week called, “<a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkc2OhCAQhJ9muK3hd5QDh73sa5hGepQs4gTaGPfpF52EFIFU0ZWPCQjnrZzuvVVil4x0vtFlPGpCIixsr1jGGJywyijb9yw4HcRgBhbr-CqIK8TkqOzI3rtPcQKKW74TXEu2NDfwJw_QT8IabaUVvQGwvZJm0M9BfMbCHiLmCd2W03m_y5JbiN71ob4f8qet4zg6WnDeoYQIuZu2td02XTFTrFemnSWXom0rlKbCNilxXuiIef5aY435tZX17viVoscCqbLorhRXiktptBad6HoZ5DBYMF5wCKoVDx60emn02grzemi-zrKru68E0-9VhhXXpp6Y4h94pAVywFK3rJp3vijdpgZpvDrvOdI5YgafMHz40ecbbqLjjLmVIwwjkBNP0Qvd4LUi_QdYA6y0MU_NB9ZahK2lsiOI3sd_DeWeKg" style="color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" class="">Liberals want to blame rightwing 'misinformation' for our problems. Get real</a>.” Its basic argument was that rather than look inward for reasons the Democratic Party message isn’t succeeding, and why political extremism is on the rise, Democrats have instead opted for a strategy of “shushing the world.”</p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">Frank addressed the “clampdown mania” of the Internet era, expressing puzzlement over a change in how Democrats look at the speech issue now, versus how traditional liberals almost unanimously viewed the issue in the not-so-distant-past. </p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">“Criticism, analysis, mockery, and protest: these were our weapons,” he wrote. “Censorship and blacklisting were, with important exceptions, the weapons of the puritanical right.” </p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">To say the piece didn’t go over as he expected is an understatement. Although some liked it, he was stunned by the reaction from people he once considered political allies. “People were like, ‘<em class="">Fuck you, Frank!’” </em>he says, half-laughing.</p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">Not long ago, Frank might have been American liberalism’s favorite writer. As detailed last summer’s review of <em class=""><a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVkMtuhSAQhp_msNNwPeqCRTd9DTPAqKQIBjCNffpyjt00mUsymdv_Wai4pnzpI5VKXmGu14E64ncJWCtmchbMs3eaTUKJaRiI09KxUY3El3nJiDv4oGs-kRynCd5C9Sm-J6jkZNM4sPFJHWNiscbYAQW3Ug7cjpQLCsN9Fk7nMVrUKYbrvZcEvdV6lIf4ePDPZhW8Mb4vpykV7Fdv096qR_MviAVKV7Z0BtetqVs6XwuGhXjNKWdUCMq5kpL1rB-44-M4gTKMghNKTs6AFItEIyemloek-8r_nSFZ75AvDP4HDNYNosNcUhStd33pfzc1-XPL-xl9vWaMYAK6m0y9Ab9ZzStGzA28m6Fq9mQDk3Li7ZE_FA2dkEo9JR1J-8KlNhX1rf4XvuyRgg" style="color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" class="">The People, No!</a>, </em>he became a pop-culture sensation with his 2004 book, <em class=""><a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkU1rxCAQhn_NetvgZz4OHpZCL6Xn9hbGONmVJhrUbMj--posDCPIO87D4wAZ7yHuegkpk6P1eV9Qe9zShDljJGvC2DurWSeU6JqGWC0ta1VLXOrHiDiDm3SOK5JlNZMbILvgzwkqOXlo0VJjxloA1m3Nh1GUQtEpaTvLODXvtbBah35AHfy0n--SST9yXtJF3C78s9S2bRXM8Aq-GsJcLn4ekNP1Gw7O6xf4BOn6EXwBfhaIJ6brbcZYiErWLqXRliraNI38JU5zyhkVgnKupGQVqxpuedt2oAyjYIWSnTUgxSjRyI6p8SLpfOdVWk3KMPwdECTqGeKOk3uBwfwAbzGm4EXJ3g8xZ6h46cs5r97lvUcPZkL7Vpbf5k-J_R09xvIjtoesWc0aJmXHC0jzdlScCqlULWlLCoUNZcrrDM4Y9w9jRJli" style="color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" class="">What’s the Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America</a>. </em>That book came outat a time when American liberalism was first beginning to grapple with a new phenomenon: a loss of status as the typical political theology of an ordinary working-class person. </p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">“There was a time when liberalism was the dominant tradition in America,” he says. “Democrats always controlled the House of Representatives. And they couldn’t figure out what happened to them.”</p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">In 2004, <em class="">What’s the Matter With Kansas? </em>offered an explanation that was soothing, on its face. The core thesis was that cultural issues replaced economics as the primary driver of decision-making in the heartland, and Republicans were winning by appeals to evangelical Christianity, racism, and other passions. This explanation was alluring to a lot of Democrats at the time, among other things because it absolved the party of blame for losing influence. After all, if people in Kansas were superstitious racists, what’s a K Street Democratic consultant to do? You can’t pander to Klansmen and idiots. </p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">Many Democrats agreed with Frank’s idea that modern Republicanism was a bait-and-switch: rail against busing or <em class="">Piss Christ, </em>then get ordinary voters to ignore “their own interests,” i.e. economics.</p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">Few, however, remembered the end of the book, which warned of a negative trajectory within the Democratic Party. While Republicans “were industriously fabricating their own class-based language of the right” and “made their populist appeal to blue-collar voters,” Democrats were “giving those same voters—their traditional base—the big brush-off.”</p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">This warning — that becoming the party of “affluent, white-collar professionals who are liberal on social issues” would ultimately backfire — proved prophetic, not that it did Frank any good. As he continued to issue this same warning with books like <em class=""><a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkc9qwzAMxp-mvjX4b-McfNhl7LDD3iDIsdqaOXawFUr29HNbEBKIT9LHTwsQ3ko93FYasWea6djQZXy0hERY2d6wzjE4MSmjpnFkwekgrLEstvlaEVeIyVHdkW27T3EBiiW_JriW7O40mnARXsJ4ARyDsT5crRUjn6Q1Sk7vs7CHiHlBV3I6XntZcneirZ3Ux0l-9ng8HgOs8FfysJS1N75jI8zn7-ixQjp_wbZhxnD-gUrH-QfLlrDLwtaTkIYLYYUSLDrJpeBKcSmN1mIQwyiDtHYC4wWHoIyeggetrhq9noS5njRfb3Jou28Ey-_zPqtuhXpgin_gke6QA9ZWsura25PJS9SRzL2ue450zJjBJwxvWvSG_uI337rx2p8RZiAnLmIUWk-yGxnfeDpOpY25aG5ZdxFKn8qOIHof_wETAJZ9" style="color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" class="">Listen, Liberal</a> — </em>which came out during the 2016 presidential cycle and predicted with hideous accuracy what was to come — he found himself less and less in demand as a green room invite or guest editorialist.</p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">Nobody in the commercial press wanted to hear that ditching the Democrats’ historical blue-collar coalition formed during the F.D.R. years had been a bad idea. Big media companies now wanted voices who made railing against Trump their expertise.</p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">It wasn’t that Frank liked Trump, he just didn’t find saying the obvious interesting. “I mean, kicking Donald Trump?” he says. “Yeah, the guy’s stupid, but making fun of stupid people, that’s not a challenge.” For the same reason, Frank notes, he never wrote about censorship before, because being for free speech for a liberal was such a “no-brainer” that it never even occurred to him. </p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">The type of liberalism Frank knew growing up, and for which he was such a prominent symbol in the Bush years (when “<em class="">libruls</em>” were commodities hated as fervently as terrorists in some circles), would never have entertained censorship as a serious solution to anything.</p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class="">What happened? Why has American liberalism gone through such a sea change on this issue? I asked Tom about this, and about the <em class="">Guardian </em>piece that sparked the backlash:</p><p style="color:#1a1a1a;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:0 0 1em 0" class=""><em class="">This is an excerpt from today’s subscriber-only post. 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