[Genuine Realist]

Boy, I remember when the “elites” were a small minority of the country, but now it looks like a substantial majority of the country is “elite” and oppressing those noble people who want to just go back to work.  After all, survey after survey after survey seem to show that this majority of elites are resisting the noble everymen who (apparently now making up less than 50% of the population) want to reopen.

Let’s stop with this false narrative that it is the “elites” that are imposing the shutdown on everyone else.  A majority of Americans still thinks we should remain shut down.  That majority is starting to narrow, for sure, and at some point I expect polls will turn and a majority of people will want to reopen.  The latest poll I could find finds the proportion of people who think we are reopening to quickly is down to a bare majority. (51%, versus 15% who say we are not reopening fast enough, and 25% who feel we are opening at the appropriate speed, a view that I share).  But the direction is clear from earlier polls where vast majorities supported stay at home orders, and I expect that as we continue to reopen, so long as we don’t see large spikes in cases or deaths, that support will continue to increase and become a majority.  But we are not there yet, and we should not pretend that a majority of Americans currently want us to reopen faster, but are frustrated by the “elites”.

BC

Sorry, but my issue was not reopening as such, but demonization of those who do believe that reopening should come sooner rather than later. They aren't White nationalists with affluent life styles as a rule, but persons genuinely concerned with how they're going to get on with life.

To dismiss that element of the public on casual racist grounds - or for that matter, Peggy Noonan, as 'a rich white lady' - is simply absurd.

Michael Lind's book is directed at managerial elites, which is indeed a very large class - unfortunately, as narrowly parochial as smaller classes.  It's very much worth the read. 

I'm a great believer in taking the American public seriously. You don't assume it's dumb or bigoted - over time, it's been right far more often than the intelligentsia. When you write off those protests as aberrant on specious racial grounds - or, for that matter, writing off the election of the dreadful Trump on the totally absurd basis of resurgent White nationalism or Russian collusion - you make yourself tone deaf to the message that's actually being delivered.

[Genuine Realist]

Boy, I remember when the “elites” were a small minority of the country, but now it looks like a substantial majority of the country is “elite” and oppressing those noble people who want to just go back to work.  After all, survey after survey after survey seem to show that this majority of elites are resisting the noble everymen who (apparently now making up less than 50% of the population) want to reopen.

Let’s stop with this false narrative that it is the “elites” that are imposing the shutdown on everyone else.  A majority of Americans still thinks we should remain shut down.  That majority is starting to narrow, for sure, and at some point I expect polls will turn and a majority of people will want to reopen.  The latest poll I could find finds the proportion of people who think we are reopening to quickly is down to a bare majority. (51%, versus 15% who say we are not reopening fast enough, and 25% who feel we are opening at the appropriate speed, a view that I share).  But the direction is clear from earlier polls where vast majorities supported stay at home orders, and I expect that as we continue to reopen, so long as we don’t see large spikes in cases or deaths, that support will continue to increase and become a majority.  But we are not there yet, and we should not pretend that a majority of Americans currently want us to reopen faster, but are frustrated by the “elites”.

BC

Sorry, but my issue was not reopening as such, but demonization of those who do believe that reopening should come sooner rather than later. They aren't White nationalists with affluent life styles as a rule, but persons genuinely concerned with how they're going to get on with life.

To dismiss that element of the public on casual racist grounds - or for that matter, Peggy Noonan, as 'a rich white lady' - is simply absurd.

Michael Lind's book is directed at managerial elites, which is indeed a very large class - unfortunately, as narrowly parochial as smaller classes.  It's very much worth the read. 

I'm a great believer in taking the American public seriously. You don't assume it's dumb or bigoted - over time, it's been right far more often than the intelligentsia. When you write off those protests as aberrant on specious racial grounds - or, for that matter, writing off the election of the dreadful Trump on the totally absurd basis of resurgent White nationalism or Russian collusion - you make yourself tone deaf to the message that's actually being delivered.