Two Simple Facts That Explain Why the Democrats are Going to Be Trounced on Nov. 2

It might be a good idea to call off the liberal party in honor of the death of conservativism. It might be a good idea to cancel the funeral too. Somebody tell the undertaker to stand down; the New York Times concedes that America is becoming more conservative. (Must be a bitter pill to swallow for the fishwrap of record!)

In a story entitled: "The State of Conservatism," written by the estimable Christopher Caldwell, we read:

It is vital to understand where this steamroller is coming from. According to Gallup, support for Obama has fallen only slightly among Democrats, from 90 percent to 81 percent, and only slightly among Republicans, from 20 percent to 12 percent. It is independents who have abandoned him: 56 percent approved of him when he came into office, versus 38 percent now. The reason the country is getting more conservative is not that conservatives are getting louder. It is that people in the dead center of the electorate are turning into conservatives at an astonishing rate.

Anybody can read the falling presidential approval polls; but it takes a liberal who is not in denial to admit that the reason is not racism or stupidity on the part of the electorate, but rather that the country is becoming more conservative at a rapid rate.

But as if that were not enough, the NYT also recognizes something that the Democrats have yet to face up to: the Democratic Party represents the elites of America not the country as a whole. And as for the ordinary working people - forget about it.

"Some wish the president had governed more to the left, insisting on a public option in the health care bill and pushing for a larger stimulus. But those people make up only a small fraction even of the 18 percent of voters who call themselves liberal. In a time of growing populism and distrust, Republicans enjoy the advantage of running against the party of the elite. This seems to be a controversial proposition, but it should not be. It is not the same as saying that Democrats are the party of elitism. One can define elitism as, say, resistance to progressive taxation, and make a case that Republicans better merit that description. But, broadly speaking, the Democratic Party is the party to which elites belong. It is the party of Harvard (and most of the Ivy League), of Microsoft and Apple (and most of Silicon Valley), of Hollywood and Manhattan (and most of the media) and, although there is some evidence that numbers are evening out in this election cycle, of Goldman Sachs (and most of the investment banking profession). That the billionaire David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity Foundation supports the Tea Party has recently been much in the news. But the Democrats have the support of more, and more active, billionaires. Of the 20 richest ZIP codes in America, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, 19 gave the bulk of their money to Democrats in the last election, in most cases the vast bulk — 86 percent in 10024 on the Upper West Side. Meanwhile, only 22 percent of non-high-school educated white males are happy with the direction the country is going in. The Democrats’ overlap with elites leaves each party with a distinctive liability. The Democrats appear sincerely deluded about whom they actually represent. Democrats — who would have no trouble discerning elite solidarity in the datum that, say, in the 1930s the upper ranks of Britain’s media, church, business and political institutions were dominated by Tories — somehow think their own predominance in similar precincts is . . . what? Coincidence? Irony?"

My favorite line is: "The Democrats appear sincerely deluded about whom they actually represent." And "sincerely deluded" - what a superb turn of phrase! This would be ironic if irony was not dead.

Congratulations to the NYT; it has explained the outcome of next week's election in two simply but very much related facts:

1. The Democratic Party has completed its transformation into the party of liberal elites.
2. The American voting public is more conservative than ever.

1 + 2 = Election wipe out for the elitists.