You Belong to Me

It's not just the title of a Taylor Swift song, it is the attitude of leftist politicians.

A striking aspect of the whole debate over white privilege, that you don’t pay your “fair share” of taxes, if you don’t support open borders and expansions of the welfare state, you hate poor people, the elderly and the sick, is the idea that we have a social and political elite who know what is good for the rest of us. By virtue of their positions in life, they assume the moral authority to set the standards by which the great unwashed must live.

Our ruling class is no different than any other of our classes, however we want to slice them. There is always a spectrum of intellect, morality, and performance. Our ruling class includes men and women of genuine achievement. But it also includes more than a few mediocrities whose snobbery is, to put it charitably, unearned.

I can remember in 2009 when then Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh of the Army Corps of Engineers addressed male senators as “sir” during a Congressional hearing and when it came time came to speak with Senator Barbara Boxer, he called her “ma’am.” Boxer blew a gasket and quickly and snidely interrupted him, saying, “Do me a favor, can you say ‘senator’ instead of ‘ma’am’? It’s just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title, so I’d appreciate it. Thank you.”

This was Senator Boxer, who has earned a distinction as one of the dumbest members of the Senate, who got her title through convincing enough idiots to vote for her, speaking to a man who retired in 2013 as a Major General with 36 years of military service. I have a high degree of confidence that General Walsh (Ret.) knows a thing or two about working hard to earn his rank.

Shut up, you H8r. I earned my success, you stole yours. I own your ass.

It is even more maddening when the mediocrities believe they became elite by their own hard work and brilliance and somehow you achieved your success through being a racist, a bigot and and/or a homophobe. They believe their positions were earned, your positions were not, so I have the moral authority to protect your victims by telling you what to do.

That’s why we have “stars”, “influencers” and trendsetters who have anointed themselves, people who all came to their positions because people enjoyed watching them act, sing, dance or post inane twenty second videos on TikTok and they looked nice while doing it, not because they produced a life-saving drug, a space age fabric or ran a multi-national conglomerate with tens of thousands of employees churning out products that make the lives of others possible, easier, safer, better, or more convenient every day.

They did stuff we needed, wanted, desired, and found useful.

Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala and Walz.

Taylor makes pop music many people find pleasing and thanks to that, she is a billionaire.

She created a product for a segment of the worldwide of which population can’t get enough.

She is credited with being a brilliant businessperson, and maybe she is, but it is far more likely she attracted the attention of topflight management talent - career, talent, and financial managers – who have made sure she makes all the right moves. I wonder how much of her ticket sales go to these folks. Whatever it is, they are certainly worth it. She was smart to hire them.

Her dad was a Merrell Lynch broker, and her mom was an executive for a mutual fund. Not hardscrabble from the coal mines in West Virginia. These are people who know people.

I’m happy for her success - but do you really think Taylor thinks deeply about anything?

Her music certainly is successful, but not something I would call deep.

But she is elite, so there are people who listen to more than her music.

The elite will tell you to sit down, shut up and let the smart people talk, little children. You belong at the kids’ table – maybe one day you can sit with the adults. When you believe that you earned your position and others did not earn theirs, it gives you a sense of superiority over those “others.” Perhaps the best avatar for this elitism, “You have to pass the bill to see what is in it.”

In my opinion, politicians in general, and progressive politicians in specific, are some of the least self-aware people on the face of the earth.

Politics is the one industry where people can fail up, win a job by lying (or at least allowing people to believe things that aren’t true), grow rich through trading influence and lose touch with reality by being surrounded by lobbyists throwing money at you and having others tell you how great you are so they can get what they want.

Taylor Swift sang “You belong to me…”

Politicians sing the same tune.