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Thomas Frank wants a class war.

You know, Thomas Frank -- of "What's the Matter With Kansas?" -- has a weekly Wall Street Journal column. Today's piece has a great title: "Get Your Class War On." So let's read!

Now comes the fall culture-war offensive, catching the Democrats by surprise as it always does and spreading panic and desperation among their ranks. As the depth of the Republican breakthrough becomes apparent to Democrats, they launch the same feeble counterattacks that failed them last time, prudishly correcting misleading GOP advertisements and crying for the recess monitor when the other side plays dirty.

Painfully apt.

Things would go better for Democrats if they recognized the culture war for what it is: a debased form of class war, a false populism in which an "authentic" America rises up against its would-be masters, an effete bunch of arugula-eaters who say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas."...

Since the 1970s, and with only a few exceptions, the Democratic response to this endlessly recurring attack has been to regard it as something beneath contempt -- which only reinforces the persecution fantasies at the heart of the culture-war myth. Take GOP vice-presidential pick Sarah Palin, for example, the flag bearer for this year's fall offensive. Like every other culture warrior before her, Mrs. Palin presents herself as a person looked down on and sneered at by the high and the mighty, defined as the liberal elite. Look down on or sneer at Mrs. Palin and you have merely reinforced the story, offered an illustration of what the lady is talking about.

That's an effective dynamic. Attack her and you promote her.

Frank goes on to say the Democrats should wage a "class war" by blaming Republican ideology for the current economic "catastrophe."

There is simply no way to blame this disaster, as Republicans used to do, on labor unions or over-regulation.

Oh, of course, there's a way.

Full post as published by Althouse on September 17, 2008 (boomark / email).