"Coalition of the Sane" 7/14
What does the phrase mean?
By now, you’ve heard about and probably read Bari Weiss’ speech The New Founders America Needs. Did you notice the italicized phrase in this passage?
I want to offer you the briefest overview of the core beliefs of the un-American revolution we are currently living through, which are abundantly clear to anyone willing to look past the hashtags and the jargon. Then I want to tell you what I think we—liberals, conservatives, independents, trads, whigs, normies, the coalition of the sane—can do to stop it in order to preserve the precious virtues that have made this country the last, best hope on Earth and that have made every single one of our lives possible.
I was titillated by the phrase “coalition of the sane.” It sounds really promising, but she never returns to it in her speech. And I am left wondering about the terms “coalition” and “sane.”
In this context, what does it mean to be sane? Probably it means believing that men and women differ in physiologically identifiable ways. It means believing that a color-blind society is a desirable goal. It means believing that freedom of speech and freedom of inquiry are important values. It means understanding that market processes have some virtues and that government processes have some vices.
But what does it mean to be a coalition? A coalition works together to overcome opposition. I do not think that Weiss’s list of constituents actually are a coalition. It includes too many of what I call Enablers—people who profess principles that differ from Woke ideology but who are ready to excuse it. Like Jonathan Haidt, they put the blame on social media. Like Jonathan Rauch, they put the blame on Donald Trump
Do you want to be more than an Enabler? Demand that the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion be abolished. Support laws banning “gender-affirming care” for minors and giving parents clear authority to shield their children from those pushing gender transition on them. Insist on the use of standardized tests and rigorous, color-blind grading practices. Fire the teachers and professors who require “activism” from their students. Fire the employees who bring politics into the workplace. Repeal laws that require “diversity” on corporate boards. Insist that pensions and other investments be directed toward profits, not toward “ESG.” Stop encouraging your kids to attend Ivy League colleges.
Who is willing to take such stands? If it is just conservatives, then I’m afraid that I have to disagree with Bari Weiss. We do not have a coalition of the sane.
I was titillated by the phrase “coalition of the sane.”
Yes it is an interesting idea, and your definition of ‘sane’ in philosophical terms is apt, however I don’t think the clinical definition should be ignored - in essence, an absence of psychopathology.
The more I observe those who promote ‘woke’, transgender issues, climate doom, the way they screech at and defame any who don’t agree and/or do not actively promote their delusions, their lack of ability to reason or be rational, their rage when they do not get what they want, their willingness to destroy lives, reputations, society, the economy, the more it seems to me this is not political or ideological, but it is clinical - the result of mental illness.
As for a coalition of the sane, maybe it is a virtual coalition, but certainly it is not physical with any direction or plan.
Passionate intensity wins in politics pretty much always in the long run. How much popular support do you suppose the Bolsheviks really had in 1917-1918, or the Nazis had in 1933 forwards? That kind of intensity allows for a degree of ruthlessness that is difficult to defeat in electoral politics, and damned near impossible in despotic systems.
The illiberal Left, which is basically the core base of the Democratic Party, is far more passionate about politics than any other group in the US. This wing of the Democrat Party isn't even a fringe minority any longer- they make up almost half the voter support of the Democrats. A coalition of the sane will gut the Democrat Party, thus it will never really happen. To continue to win, the enablers of this in the party will continue to compromise their ethics away. I like Bari Weiss, but she is still incredibly naive.