WS Journal Op Ed bemoans loss of WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) leadership

[Mad Mike]

That's right folks... According to this guy, we were better off when rich white people with entrenched political families were running the country.

 

The Late, Great American WASP - WSJ.com

 

 

 

The old U.S. ruling class had plenty of problems. But are we really better off with a country run by the self-involved, over-schooled products of modern meritocracy?

 

 

Trust, honor, character: The elements that have departed U.S. public life with the departure from prominence of WASP culture have not been taken up by the meritocrats. Many meritocrats who enter politics, when retired by the electorate from public life, proceed to careers in lobbying or other special-interest advocacy. University presidents no longer speak to the great issues in education but instead devote themselves to fundraising and public relations, and look to move on to the next, more prestigious university presidency.

A financier I know who grew up under the WASP standard not long ago told me that he thought that the subprime real estate collapse and the continuing hedge-fund scandals have been brought on directly by men and women who are little more than "greedy pigs" (his words) without a shred of character or concern for their clients or country. Naturally, he added, they all have master's degrees from the putatively best business schools in the nation.

Thus far in their history, meritocrats, those earnest good students, appear to be about little more than getting on, getting ahead and (above all) getting their own. The WASP leadership, for all that may be said in criticism of it, was better than that.

The WASPs' day is done. Such leadership as it provided isn't likely to be revived. Recalling it at its best is a reminder that the meritocracy that has followed it marks something less than clear progress. Rather the reverse.

 

The sad thing is he almost makes a point when he brushes up against the topic of the worship of money, but rather than look at the libertarian roots of the tea party as the failure of modern politics, he chooses instead to look to a distant past when politics was the sole domain of rich white men and their political families. 

 

 

[Larry]

I thought Fox News was leading them just fine.

Love the person bemoaning how society is collapsing because we now supposedly have a meritocracy.

Am I the only person, reading the portions quoted above, who feels like he's reading the words on the screen at the opening of Gone With the Wind? Oh, for those bygone days when everything was grand and noble and proper, . . .

[Mad Mike]

I'm picturing a grouchy old man yelling at the kids to get off his lawn. 

[Larry]

On a more serious note, however, I do recall once reading a piece where somebody was seriously suggesting a third house of Congress, where members not only served for life, but their seats were inherited, as well.

His reasoning was that he wanted a house of Congress which would look beyond the next election.

Unfortunately, I suspect it would simply result in a house of Congress that doesn't give a ****. But I do understand the desire.

[Barney B]

ah, nevermind

[Mad Mike]

On a more serious note, however, I do recall once reading a piece where somebody was seriously suggesting a third house of Congress, where members not only served for life, but their seats were inherited, as well.

His reasoning was that he wanted a house of Congress which would look beyond the next election.

Unfortunately, I suspect it would simply result in a house of Congress that doesn't give a ****. But I do understand the desire.

 

I've been saying something similar since forever (minus any idea for how to fix it). So yeah, I understand the desire as well.

 

BTW... If you read the Dune Books, one of the concepts is that Paul Atreides has been groomed in the principles of responsible leadership, and care for the people his family rules since he was a child.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

This is truly bizarre. Openly denouncing a merit based system for a lineage based aristocracy? Wtf?

[AsburySkinsFan]

I've been saying something similar since forever (minus any idea for how to fix it). So yeah, I understand the desire as well.

 

BTW... If you read the Dune Books, one of the concepts is that Paul Atreides has been groomed in the principles of responsible leadership, and care for the people his family rules since he was a child.

This works great in theory, but it doesn't take long when we look at history to see the weakness of hereditary leadership, how many great kingdoms toppled because of the ineptitude of the royal spawn,

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

This is truly bizarre. Openly denouncing a merit based system for a lineage based aristocracy? Wtf?

Yup. I'm confused.

BTW, looked up this writer, Joseph Epstein. 73 years old. This is a big chunk of his Wikipedia page:

In 1970, Epstein wrote an article for Harper's Magazine called "The Struggle for Sexual Identity," that was widely criticized for its perceived homophobia, although Harper's editor Midge Decter defended it as an "elegant and thoughtful account". Among other things, Epstein wrote, "if I had the power to do so, I would wish homosexuality off the face of the earth, because I consider it a curse, in a literal sense." He ended the article with

There is much that my four sons can do in their lives that might cause me anguish, that might outrage me, that might make [me] ashamed of them and of myself as their father. But nothing they could ever do would make me sadder than if any of them were to become homosexual.

The response of gay writers and readers to Epstein's piece, including a "sit-in" at Harper's by members of the Gay Activists Alliance, has been identified as a significant turning point in the gay rights movement of the early 1970s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Epstein_(writer)

[Mad Mike]

This works great in theory, but it doesn't take long when we look at history to see the weakness of hereditary leadership, how many great kingdoms toppled because of the ineptitude of the royal spawn,

 

Which is why I could never come up with a real solution.

Yup. I'm confused.

BTW, looked up this writer, Joseph Epstein. 73 years old. This a big chunk of his Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Epstein_(writer)

 

Nice job w/ the research. I should have thought to do the same myself. Between this editorial and his history, It says a lot about the WSJ that they would continue to publish him.

[Slateman]

Unfortunately, I suspect it would simply result in a house of Congress that doesn't give a ****. But I do understand the desire.

And that's different from right now . . . how?

[skinsmarydu]

Yup. I'm confused.

BTW, looked up this writer, Joseph Epstein. 73 years old. This is a big chunk of his Wikipedia page:

I chuckled at the part about if one of his sons "become" homosexual...

[mistertim]

I chuckled at the part about if one of his sons "become" homosexual...

Pshh. Everyone knows  you don't "decide to become gay". 

 

You have to catch teh ghey.

[Riggo-toni]

So what's the test for joining this aristocracy...the Epstein Bar?

[Tulane Skins Fan]

So what's the test for joining this aristocracy...the Epstein Bar?

 

That joke went over 98% of this board's head.  

[SkinInsite]

WASPs are too busy with their

 

[Jumbo]

It's unfortunate how easy it is in our culture to wrap excrement-level thinking/product in cheap-ass tissue-thin paper and have some kind of an audience (often sizable and influential, sadly) view it as a worthy gift.

 

This one belongs in those White Elephant (bonus demographic pun ) gone bad gift exchanges where various expressions of crap are inflicted upon one another, generating negativity to be remembered and perpetuated in the name of "community" and "holiday spirit." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what's the test for joining this aristocracy...the Epstein Bar?

 Another gift that keeps on giving.

[zoony]

Is it PC to tell WASP jokes? Who keeps track of these things

[Larry]

White Elephant (bonus demographic pun )

Bows in recognition of the cleverness.

[Jumbo]

Who keeps track of these things

 Primarily, sphincter-focused clue-free Caucasian opinionators (I have submitted a trademark claim on that term) on "both sides."

[The Evil Genius]

Will you guys stop herping on Epstein Barr and get back to the subject in hand?

 

[dfitzo53]

Well, to discuss the actual content of the article, I find "meritocrats" to be very difficult to pronounce in a satisfying way.  It's awkward whether you try to pronounce it with the same pattern as "aristocrat" or "meritocracy".  If you try to emphasize "merit" to avoid that issue, and pronounce it "merit-o-crats" you just sound like a turd.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

 

I highly recommend for the lovers of vulgar comedy.

[Jumbo]

Well, to discuss the actual content of the article, I find "meritocrats" to be very difficult to pronounce in a satisfying way.  It's awkward whether you try to pronounce it with the same pattern as "aristocrat" or "meritocracy".  If you try to emphasize "merit" to avoid that issue, and pronounce it "merit-o-crats" you just sound like a turd.

 It's about time someone nailed the meat of this matter and hopefully you had protection.

[Destino]

There is a point in there about character and values that have changed, that is a valid, but I think arguing that WASPs were the well spring from which those flowed is absurd. (Thulsa Doom?)  American culture has taken a strange turn and we are all about self interest these days.