It's Not A Twister, Ms. Noonan, It's Climate Change

Peggy Noonan depicts what's happening in both parties as a twister, or tornado. While correct on the merits of her relatively limited argument, I believe she fails to see the entirety of the storm that's brewing. Most in what has been called the elitist, or ruling class, can't and won't see it, no matter how they strain their eyes, or spin their metaphors.

And part of what's driving it is what is driving the evolution of the Republican Party. The Internet changed everything. Everyone has facts now, knows who voted how and why. New thought leaders spring up and lead in new directions. Total transparency leads to party fracturing. Information dings unity. We are in new territory.

This isn't two tornadoes. It's the climate of American politics changing forevermore; unless, of course, Noonan believes the Internet is going to up and blow away one day. But rather than do that, it's only going to develop, expanding its reach and influence even more. Think of it as a hurricane, in certain respects.

Another tornado: The president's influential counselor, David Axelrod, attempted this week to insinuate into the election what Democrats used to deride as "wedge issues." In an interview he said abortion will "certainly be an issue," for Democrats. It will be raised "across the country."

Surely Noonan can recall the Reagan Revolution. How can one look at various GOP primaries this past year and not say one developed, but with no Reagan at the front. There were pundits, talk radio hosts and political figures who have nurtured, or flirted with it, Sarah Palin comes to mind. But it's a ground up, genuinely people-powered revolution for the most part. And it draws much of its energy from the Internet.

Time was it took a week, or more, to get 100 people to show up on a Boston street corner, or at a harbor, perhaps. Today, thousands, tens of thousands, or more can gather on the street corner of point and click at the drop of a hat, finding tools of political empowerment when they arrive.

While there can be no real predicting the future of American politics, there are at least some signs we are headed in the right, and center-Right, direction. While other forces were in play behind the scenes, being early adopters allowed the far Left to take control of the Democrat Party. They helped give Hillary Clinton the boot and elected a would be messiah. We all see how that's working out, as that movement is so out of step with the majority of Americans. But that's the Democrat Party's problem to solve, not mine.

Now, having mostly caught up, the so called silent majority of Americans we're always told are more conservative are showing up en masse and amassing technology-enabled political wisdom and power. What we should strive for is not a too far Right Republican Party that would repeat the mistakes of the far Left - but a center-Right GOP in step with the American public. And despite the media and ruling class trying to make them out as extremists, I think that is precisely what we're seeing on the horizon, or at a Tea Party, if you will.

If I'm correct and we're careful, as well as perhaps a bit lucky, this force of nature is neither hurricane, nor tornado. It is more an accurate reflection of the majority of the American electorate waking up to the fact that they have a stake in the future of America, even more so, perhaps, than any ruling class, or political party. The Internet now makes it possible for them to, not only play a role, but take their rightful seat at the head of the table.

Speaking for myself, I became involved in new media when I did because I realized it could democratize information and news flow. And as that became more democratic, and it is today, the politics of America would become more democratic, as well. Only time will tell, but I believe we're seeing the development of a new and profound and profoundly American majority, with its Reagan Democrats, libertarians and, of course, its conservatives like me, too.

We are finding our voices and citizen leaders not in the tree-tops, but down here in the grassroots. And some roots have a way of anchoring things so deeply they can survive hurricanes and even the occasional tornado. We'll see, but I say, long live a new once silent majority now finding its voice through the Internet. No passing storm, I hope, long may she roar above the fruited plain and eventually from sea to shining sea.

Comments

[Sissy Willis]

Brilliant insight in your title. I love "the street corner of point and click":

"Time was it took a week, or more, to get 100 people to show up on a Boston street corner, or at a harbor, perhaps. Today, thousands, tens of thousands, or more can gather on the street corner of point and click at the drop of a hat, finding tools of political empowerment when they arrive."

Al Gore, eat your heart out. The REAL anthropogenic climate change is an inconvenient truth you never dreamed of.

[gary gulrud]

Second. Brilliant. All the same, Margaret seems to have had her Damascus moment.

[mark l.]

as far as I can tell, the special report commentary by brit hume, about a week back, really summarized this new and very rich vein of criticism of the wh.

john stewart's milquetoast meltdown: 'we came, we saw, we suck'
noonan's article today...

they are merely expansions of brit's observations.
good to see that the guy is remains relevant.

[ThomasD]

The printing press changed the world forever and in ways unimaginable by those present at the early implementation of the technology.

There is a novel of alternate history titled 'The Difference Engine' by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. The title refers to a device designed by Charles Babbage in the mid 19th century, that if built would have been the first modern computer. In the novel the authors envisage a world where the industrial revolution and the information age occur at the same time.

The internet, which represent the total decentralization of information and communication, has come at a time when we are transitioning out of the old version of the industrial world into a newer more decentralized one. This time we are going to see what happens when those two processes play out together.

[David R. Graham]

"Don't forget the Russians."

[A_Nonny_Mouse]

" It is more an accurate reflection of the majority of the American electorate waking up to the fact that they have a stake in the future of America, even more so, perhaps, than any ruling class, or political party. The Internet now makes it possible for them to, not only play a role, but take their rightful seat at the head of the table. "
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More than just a "stake in the future of America". The sober reality is that WE HAVE TO STAY ALERT, AND ACTIVE; WE HAVE TO MONITOR THE CLOWNS WE ELECT TO REPRESENT US IN *EVERYTHING* THAT THEY DO WHILE IN OFFICE. Dammit. I used to have a life, you know; but now I'm fighting to get my country back again.

I guess the fight will never be over: humans -- especially politicians -- are only human, after all. And people seeking office self-select for all the foibles we associate with politicians. (What rational, normal person would want the job? -- endless scrutiny, endless criticism, the obligation to schmooze with idiots and manipulators; having to toe the official party line on this/ that/ the other; having to wait for plum committee memberships because your Party says some old doofus with 20 years' seniority on you "deserves his turn now" ... and you have to, HAVE TO!, focus on money-money-money for the next campaign 24/7/365. To me that life would be unbearable...)

But anyway, it's the nature of politicians to wheel and deal and do "little favors" that will be repaid with interest (and to get "little favors" that will require payback as well). And it's the nature of government to want to increase its power and scope. And sadly, that means that people like me who had trusted our government and our representatives to perform "well enough" without constant supervision, now have to revise our thinking: government needs constant oversight; our representatives need constant oversight; we can't trust them to behave responsibly (dadgummit) so we have to monitor them as though they were three-year-olds. We have to know what's in EVERY bill they bring to the floor; we have to know ALL the ramifications of what they're proposing. (For instance, ObamaCare sets up all kinds of "expert panels" which have the authority to do ... WHAT, exactly? Who pays them? Who oversees their work? What are their qualifications? Can their decisions be appealed? How? Nobody knows yet, and by the time we KNOW, the framework of this monstrosity will already be in place and it'll be too late to undo it.)

I really don't want to spend 5 hours every week overseeing what my CongressCritters are doing, but I'm afraid that's the price I'm going to have to pay (that ALL responsible Americans will have to pay) in order to keep them from following their natural instincts and legislating our country to death.

[shoemaker]

In definite wisdom of Allah who alloted lots of hotair bandwidth only to expose the thin veneer of Brook&Frum intellectual elitism.

"He hath seen the crease in the man’s pants and pronounced it good." "I divide people into people who talk like us and who don’t talk like us.” -Quotes of a thousand years.

The intelligentsia coffee are in virtual-reality league of their own ivory-tower establishment who can't grasp the fundamental basic that we, even the ordinary simple-minded teabaggers can understand that the bedrock foundation of democracy is the will and the voice of the people.

I think Dan owed Allah a few credits, burnt offering in the sacred fire not friendly fire. Remember pundit Allah is moderate and gracious, slow to anger, slow to react, and plenteous in mercy