Regarding the conservatives at Harvard, I thought of these viral tweets:
"Right-wing guys from blue states are 10x more rabid than their red-state counterparts."
"Generally speaking, blue state conservatives are more resilient and politically-hardened than red state conservatives because they have to deal with the communist and her policies on a regular basis."
What does it do to a normal guy to live in Cambridge, Massachusetts? Leo Koerner is a Harvard faculty brat I believe (not explicitly mentioned in the article), as is based law professor Adrian Vermeule, as is contrarian X poster Jacob Shell, who wrote "To Save Academia, Hire Conservatives."
I found your college town article interesting for a couple reasons.
First, though I've never been there, I always heard New Haven was a dump, and couldn't help thinking Yale should bear at least a little responsibility for that. Maybe that's not fair, every town is different and sometimes they really do have an arcane local pecking order. But it's hard for me to imagine a school not wanting to invest in the local community, at least if it's in a pretty small city, where it's a substantial portion of the whole.
Second, I've been aware of Michael Lindsay ever since he was here at Rice, when he began publishing some interesting research about the American church. After going to lead Gordon College, I knew he had encountered considerable controversy and eventually left, but didn't realize he was now at Taylor. I hope he can have a major impact on the school, but it could be difficult. The coming years are going to be really tough on private higher education.
I was a member of the New York Young Republican club in the oughts. It was very moderate, very neocon. I sat at the dais at a gala honoring Mike Bloomberg when he was the ostensibly Republican mayor.
Sometime (around 2016 I imagine), the club had a complete MAGA revolution and is now about the most passionate ultra-MAGA organization that can be imagined. What's interesting to me is that they are now known for fun, wild events. The 2023 gala was a black-tie event at Cipriani Wall Street attended by THE MAN himself and according to the New York Post was an epic blowout featuring the antics of characters like Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert.
In other words, the NYYRC is about 1,000 times more stylish, wild and fun (and expensive) then it ever was during my time. The deep transgressiveness of being an NYC MAGA is exactly what's cool about it. There are far more social events these days and they're often invitation-only at undisclosed locations. The vibe shift in that organization was complete.
The rail discussion at Antiplanner had an interesting comment:
"Why do rail transportation commentators compare the US to Europe, Japan, and China when Canada and Australia are the more comparable country markets for rail transportation?"
I wonder if Canada and Australia simply recognize that their population density is well below that of Europe and China and Japan, or do they suffer the same Euro-envy that has plagued American elites for a couple of centuries?
The original Canadian railroads across the continent were laid by private companies with massive infusions of capital from the Dominion government (grants, loans, and huge land-grants). After they were built, the railroads operated privately at a tidy profit (much to the impotent rage of Western farmers).
This was generally the Canadian way of doings things where sovereignty and settlement were concerned: the state lead the way, in cooperation with private capital, and the people followed. It's not an accident that the symbol of the Canadian west is a Mountie, and not the gunslinger/sheriff (who are really two sides of the same coin).
Yet, there is almost no nostalgia for railways in Canada. Passenger rail was decimated by the Reagan/Thatcher era Prime Minister Mulroney nationwide with little longterm objection. It exists now only in the Montreal-Toronto-Windsor corridor (our eastern seaboard).
Like the commentator suggests, railways were such tremendous undertakings for countries with small populations and vast rugged spaces (I wonder if it was the same in Australia), that there is little inclination to start to spin fantasies about them. Perhaps the abundance and great populations of the United States give pundits there that enviable luxury.
"The original Canadian railroads across the continent were laid by private companies with massive infusions of capital from the Dominion government (grants, loans, and huge land-grants). After they were built, the railroads operated privately at a tidy profit (much to the impotent rage of Western farmers)."
That's actually pretty close to how we did it here in the States.
I wonder what is going to happen to all of these women who decide not to have children or get divorced from their husbands to find themselves when they get old? I think we are beginning to see the results as these Progressive protests are usually heavily populated by old grey haired women.
Simple. They will engage in normal human behavior and blame their unhappiness on everybody but themselves, consistently vote for programs and policies that will benefit them at the expense of everyone else, and denigrate and demonize anyone who makes different choices than they did. In the case, they will blame the patriarchy and neoliberalism for their unhappiness, vote themselves benefits that are unsustainable, push for increased immigration to make up for the babies they didn't bother to have, and denigrate and demonize traditional couples who either have children normally or adopt.
If you look at how people behave, not wanting to take personal responsibility and selfishness are pretty universal traits, regardless of ideology. How these traits manifest will vary, however.
That is sadly very normal behavior. It's why we are stuck with declining birth rates. I fear we'll have to hit rock bottom to change, and hopefully our rock bottom isn't as low as it looks right now.
Regarding the conservatives at Harvard, I thought of these viral tweets:
"Right-wing guys from blue states are 10x more rabid than their red-state counterparts."
"Generally speaking, blue state conservatives are more resilient and politically-hardened than red state conservatives because they have to deal with the communist and her policies on a regular basis."
https://x.com/jchasedavis/status/1955645445327503659
https://x.com/BowTiedRanger/status/1947525632092737566
What does it do to a normal guy to live in Cambridge, Massachusetts? Leo Koerner is a Harvard faculty brat I believe (not explicitly mentioned in the article), as is based law professor Adrian Vermeule, as is contrarian X poster Jacob Shell, who wrote "To Save Academia, Hire Conservatives."
https://www.compactmag.com/article/to-save-academia-hire-conservatives/
Based philosopher Matthew Crawford is a Berkeley faculty brat.
https://mcrawford.substack.com/
Apparently, being raised in Cambridge, Berkeley, etc. either turns you into a total wokester, or immunizes you completely against progressive follies.
I found your college town article interesting for a couple reasons.
First, though I've never been there, I always heard New Haven was a dump, and couldn't help thinking Yale should bear at least a little responsibility for that. Maybe that's not fair, every town is different and sometimes they really do have an arcane local pecking order. But it's hard for me to imagine a school not wanting to invest in the local community, at least if it's in a pretty small city, where it's a substantial portion of the whole.
Second, I've been aware of Michael Lindsay ever since he was here at Rice, when he began publishing some interesting research about the American church. After going to lead Gordon College, I knew he had encountered considerable controversy and eventually left, but didn't realize he was now at Taylor. I hope he can have a major impact on the school, but it could be difficult. The coming years are going to be really tough on private higher education.
I was a member of the New York Young Republican club in the oughts. It was very moderate, very neocon. I sat at the dais at a gala honoring Mike Bloomberg when he was the ostensibly Republican mayor.
Sometime (around 2016 I imagine), the club had a complete MAGA revolution and is now about the most passionate ultra-MAGA organization that can be imagined. What's interesting to me is that they are now known for fun, wild events. The 2023 gala was a black-tie event at Cipriani Wall Street attended by THE MAN himself and according to the New York Post was an epic blowout featuring the antics of characters like Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert.
In other words, the NYYRC is about 1,000 times more stylish, wild and fun (and expensive) then it ever was during my time. The deep transgressiveness of being an NYC MAGA is exactly what's cool about it. There are far more social events these days and they're often invitation-only at undisclosed locations. The vibe shift in that organization was complete.
Interesting! I didn't know the background on the organization.
The rail discussion at Antiplanner had an interesting comment:
"Why do rail transportation commentators compare the US to Europe, Japan, and China when Canada and Australia are the more comparable country markets for rail transportation?"
I wonder if Canada and Australia simply recognize that their population density is well below that of Europe and China and Japan, or do they suffer the same Euro-envy that has plagued American elites for a couple of centuries?
Canadian here...
The original Canadian railroads across the continent were laid by private companies with massive infusions of capital from the Dominion government (grants, loans, and huge land-grants). After they were built, the railroads operated privately at a tidy profit (much to the impotent rage of Western farmers).
This was generally the Canadian way of doings things where sovereignty and settlement were concerned: the state lead the way, in cooperation with private capital, and the people followed. It's not an accident that the symbol of the Canadian west is a Mountie, and not the gunslinger/sheriff (who are really two sides of the same coin).
Yet, there is almost no nostalgia for railways in Canada. Passenger rail was decimated by the Reagan/Thatcher era Prime Minister Mulroney nationwide with little longterm objection. It exists now only in the Montreal-Toronto-Windsor corridor (our eastern seaboard).
Like the commentator suggests, railways were such tremendous undertakings for countries with small populations and vast rugged spaces (I wonder if it was the same in Australia), that there is little inclination to start to spin fantasies about them. Perhaps the abundance and great populations of the United States give pundits there that enviable luxury.
"The original Canadian railroads across the continent were laid by private companies with massive infusions of capital from the Dominion government (grants, loans, and huge land-grants). After they were built, the railroads operated privately at a tidy profit (much to the impotent rage of Western farmers)."
That's actually pretty close to how we did it here in the States.
I wonder what is going to happen to all of these women who decide not to have children or get divorced from their husbands to find themselves when they get old? I think we are beginning to see the results as these Progressive protests are usually heavily populated by old grey haired women.
Simple. They will engage in normal human behavior and blame their unhappiness on everybody but themselves, consistently vote for programs and policies that will benefit them at the expense of everyone else, and denigrate and demonize anyone who makes different choices than they did. In the case, they will blame the patriarchy and neoliberalism for their unhappiness, vote themselves benefits that are unsustainable, push for increased immigration to make up for the babies they didn't bother to have, and denigrate and demonize traditional couples who either have children normally or adopt.
Probably…although I’m not sure about the normal human behavior.
If you look at how people behave, not wanting to take personal responsibility and selfishness are pretty universal traits, regardless of ideology. How these traits manifest will vary, however.
That is sadly very normal behavior. It's why we are stuck with declining birth rates. I fear we'll have to hit rock bottom to change, and hopefully our rock bottom isn't as low as it looks right now.
The silver lining maybe is we would come to our senses as a nation and finally outlaw legalized infanticide.