America Is Tired of Elitism

by Kerry Dougherty

There is nothing that members of the corporate media hate more than being told they’re elites.

Thing is, they’re so elite they don’t even realize it.

Take The New York Times White House correspondent, Annie Karni, for instance.

It isn’t simply her job to report what’s going on in Washington, she’s also the self-appointed  defender of former presidents not named Trump.

On Sunday, CNN’s Jim Acosta took time out from attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — apparently it’s the anchor’s job to try to damage a likely GOP frontrunner for president in 2024 — to give Karni a chance to blow kisses to the Obamas.

Acosta pointed out that there was criticism of the party Barack Obama threw for himself at his Martha’s Vineyard $12 million estate Saturday night. Leaked photos showed a crowd of unmasked revelers, including Obama, dancing inside a crowded large tent.

Criticism of the party was “overblown” according to the NYT reporter.

“This is a sophisticated, vaccinated crowd,” Karni sniffed.

Here, watch for yourself:

Whoa. How did THAT slip out?

These super-rich A-listers are sophisticated. How dare the rabble comment on their behavior!

Shoot. Where are my manners? Let’s back up for a minute.

First, let me extend a belated happy birthday to former President Barack Obama who turned 60 last week and who threw a bash for himself on Saturday at his sprawling compound.

I am not being facetious. I am happy for our former president and his successes. And I honestly don’t care how many people were crammed into those massive tents on his property.

As long as you and I aren’t stuck with crowd restrictions when its our turn to have a party.

Ever since the beginning of the pandemic I’ve said that people need to take responsibility for their own actions and their own health. If an invite from a former president makes “sophisticated and vaccinated” people throw Covid caution to the wind, well so be it.

It’s a free country. Or at least it used to be.

The problem began for Obama when news of his upcoming extravaganza broke at the same time the pearl-clutching crazies at the CDC were stroking out over the Delta variant.

Backlash against the Obamapalooza was instantaneous.

So, at the last minute, it was announced that the guest list had been trimmed because of Covid. Initially the crowd was estimated to be about 475 plus 200 servers. There was no word of how many had been uninvited.

Hmmmm. How does one tell George Clooney that he didn’t make the cut? Steven Spielberg? Jay-Z? Beyonce? Steven Colbert? Bruce Springsteen?

One doesn’t.

Observers photographed hordes of beautiful people heading toward Obamaland last weekend. Then one of the DJ’s posted pictures of the guest of honor dancing on a crowded dance floor. Maskless, of course.

That Instagram photo was quickly deleted, but not before screen shots circled the globe.

No sooner had the Obama party ended than Anthony Fauci made his regular rounds of the Sunday shows, telling the bikers heading to Sturgis, SD to stay home. It was too dangerous for them to gather.

Comparisons between the two events are crazy, but to ordinary folks it looks like yet another case of sticking it to the regular guy while the upper classes do whatever they please.

Let’s face it, there’s something about a biker event that really annoys the elites.

Last summer journalists twisted themselves into knots trying to cook up numbers to show that the gathering was a “super-spreader” event. The Washington Post still claims there were hundreds of cases. Yet USA Today reported that there were just 124 cases “tied” to Sturgis. With 460,000 attendees, that was an infection rate of .09%.

Nothing like Bear Week in Provincetown last month, but the elites have been curiously quiet about that one.

Americans are sick of the hypocrisy. They’re tired of being told to wear masks while getting their hair cut and then watching the Speaker of the House in her salon, maskless. They’re tired of Michigan’s governor telling everyone to stay home while she slipped off to Florida.

Gavin Newsom’s French Laundry dinner is one of the reasons Californians are about to recall him.

It’s clear that America is tired of elites. In government. And especially in the media.

This column has been republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed & Unedited.


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42 responses to “America Is Tired of Elitism”

  1. I broke an editorial rule today publishing this column. I normally insist that every column in Bacon’s Rebellion have a Virginia tie-in. This one doesn’t. But Kerry develops an important theme I’ll be paying more attention to — America’s new ruling class. I wrote yesterday about Bobos and the Epistemic Regime, discussing the New Ruling Class in an abstract way. Kerry has the gift of making very similar points in a concrete way that anyone can understand and appreciate. Essentially, Kerry is saying that the New Ruling Class insists upon one set of rules for itself and a different set of rules for the great unwashed.

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Who knew?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        What? That slopes are slippery? Aren’t they all?

    2. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Geeze. You JUST broke another rule the other day.

      BR is now officially about Culture Wars with folks like Kerry, Bader, and now Anonymous… spewing gawd knows whatever the next “outrage”.

      Looks like VPAP was entirely correct when they decided
      BR was opinion and not news!

      WRT to the “ruling Elites”, that’s pretty funny given Florida and Texas basically NOT allowing schools to set their own policies but “mandating” that they do what the Governor decrees unlike Wise King Northam who is actually delegating that decision to the localities.

      tsk tsk

      1. John Harvie Avatar
        John Harvie

        … speaking of being anonymous …

      2. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Well, Virginia has become boring. You can only rag on Ralph’s Halloween costume but so many times.

        Is there news in Virginia? Aside from Newport, that is?

        Oh wait! Newport ain’t far from the Vinyard. So, maybe it qualifies as Newport News! Har! Humor!

    3. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      We have plenty of elitists in Virginia. Take Ralph Northam. Please.

      Northam’s father, Wescott B. Northam, served as a lawye. He entered politics in the 1960s, serving three terms as Commonwealth’s Attorney for Accomack County, Virginia. After losing election to a fourth term, Wescott Northam was appointed as a Circuit Court judge for Accomack and Northampton counties. Wescott Northam’s own father, Thomas Long Northam, had served as a judge in the same court.

      Northam grew up as a typically entitled child of the Byrd Machine on a waterside plantation err … farm on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

      Yet somehow he never know that his ancestors owned slaves despite living on an Eastern Shore plantation. That was a lie.

      A genetic racist, Northam so loved dressing in blackface that he put pictures of himself in blackface on his medical school yearbook page. He claimed the pictures got there mysteriously. That was a lie.

      Worse yet, Northam not only had a photograph of himself in blackface on his yearbook page he’s standing next to some idiot dressed in very realistic looking klan robes. He claims he doesn’t know who that person is. That is a lie.

      His nickname of “coonman” is listed on the yearbook page. He claims he doesn’t know why that nickname is listed. That’s a lie.

      He ran for office three times without any of the local, state or national news media finding his yearbook picture. Sniveling princes of the Byrd Machine have to be protected.

      When confronted with the yearbook photos Northam talked about how hard it is to get shoe polish off your face and offered to moonwalk.

      Yet the lame assed liberals in the state who screeched for Northam to resign have turned into supporters of the racist clown. Unsurprisingly, it was the people from Richmond and the Southside who were the first to excuse Northam’s racist behavior.

      Then Terry McAuliffe, et al decided Ralph needed to be forgiven. After Fairfax was accused of forcible rape and Herring admitted to wearing blackface. Suddenly, having two racists and and accused forcible rapist running the state was OK with the progressives. Better than the alternative of a Republican I guess.

      Virginia has plenty of mollycoddled elitists.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        still , he lets the school districts make decisions. Unlike Md, Tx and Florida

        1. DJRippert Avatar
          DJRippert

          The Virginia Constitution has this to say about the quality of free public education …

          “Section 2. Standards of quality; State and local support of public schools.
          Standards of quality for the several school divisions shall be determined and prescribed from time to time by the Board of Education, subject to revision only by the General Assembly. The General Assembly shall determine the manner in which funds are to be provided for the cost of maintaining an educational program meeting the prescribed standards of quality, and shall provide for the apportionment of the cost of such program between the Commonwealth and the local units of government comprising such school divisions. Each unit of local government shall provide its portion of such cost by local taxes or from other available funds.”

          Closing the schools to in-person education clearly affects the quality of the education provided. I would say that it dramatically lowers the quality of the education provided. In fact. I’d also say that the quality of education provided by Virginia’s constitutionally mandated public schools fell below the quality standards described in the constitution for those schools closed to in-person teaching.

          As the governor, Ralph Northam is responsible for governing in accordance with our constitution. He did not do this.

          Fearing a loss of support from his base of teachers and administrators Northam punted the decision to the localities. Why? Because he’s a coward – far more concerned about politics than he is concerned about the education of Virginia’s children (especially the poor, often minority children most negatively affected by the lack of in-person education).

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Nice try but no dice. He’s NOT doing what Md, Tx and Florida are doing in terms of letting the schools decide based on local conditions.

            The SOLs are standards and by definition they need to be the same for all schools if they are really going to mean much.

            In terms of decisions to close or not or what measures to take or not – again – letting the local districts figure that out as opposed to the top-down one-size-fits-all that you guy rail about – Northam is doing it right but it don’t matter with the “anti” folks – no matter which way Northam goes, it’s wrong… so no, you opinions lack legitimacy IMHO of course.

          2. DJRippert Avatar
            DJRippert

            While I’m sure this will be hard for you to understand …. MD, TX and FL are not governed by Virginia’s state constitution.

            Your characterization of Maryland Governor Larry Hogan is also in error. Hogan did not close or open schools after the initial closing in March 2020. He refused to let the libtwits in Montgomery County, MD close all the schools (public and private) in that county. He insisted that the schools and school systems make their own decisions rather than being forced by the county. In that way, he helped keep the private schools open while the public school system’s students got abused by the Montgomery County School Board’s unscientific stupidity.

            https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/bs-md-hogan-schools-order-20200803-v3clsgss6fgo3d4t2qagepngsa-story.html

          3. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            In other words, Hogan ruled and dictated , right?

            You seem to be okay with elitism if the justification is to deal with libtwits but otherwise not so much?

            That’s not a consistent position, you know. It’s one that varies according to your politics, no?

          4. DJRippert Avatar
            DJRippert

            LoL. Nobody sensible has ever called Larry Hogan an elitist.

            Hogan refused to allow the counties to unilaterally close the schools. He demanded that the individual school boards make that decision.

            He dictated nothing to anybody. He refused to allow the Montgomery County Council to dictate to the individual schools. This meant that Catholic and private schools in Montgomery County, MD could stay open if they decided that was in the best interests of the school.

          5. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            re: ” refused to allow the counties to unilaterally close the schools. He demanded that the individual school boards make that decision.

            He dictated nothing to anybody”

            really? didn’t he just “dictate” to those counties what they could do or not?

            you guys kills me DJ.. it’s like you can say one thing and then totally contradict it and it’s “good”.

            I didn’t call Hogan an elitsts – I’m not the one calling folks elitists nor defining what elitism is or is not but I do know when Hogan tells a county they can’t do something – that kind of behavior is called elitism by folks on the right if a Dem gov did it.

            upside down Alice in wonderland with you folks.

    4. Warmac9999 Avatar
      Warmac9999

      Socialists and communists rule. They do not govern a free people.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        Most countries that folks on the right label as “socialist” are, in fact, most of the developed countries in the world and they do have elections and citizens do vote for governance that does provide things like education and health care.

        Take England where the doctors actually are employed by the government:

        ” There is strong support for the principles of the NHS across all sections of British society. Of those surveyed, 89% agree that the government should support a national health system that is tax funded, free at the point of use and provides comprehensive care for all citizens.”

        Conservative leaders in England thought they would dismantle the NHS but they found out pretty quick – they’d be voted out even if they attempted.

        Same in this country. No Conservative politician in their right mind would propose to get rid of Medicare or Medicaid. They’d be out on their butts soon after saying such a thing.

        People WANT these things – They want the government to provide these things. They vote that way. How could they not be “free”?

  2. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    Don’t ignore all the guests arriving on the island by private jet on the weekend before another hair-on-fire UN climate alarmism “Assessment Report” is released (leaked today). A photo circulates showing the other Kerry, Climate Czar Kerry, deplaning but the State Department claims he took the ferry.

    But he COULD have had Greta row him over….Lefties buying beach houses are also proof they don’t really believe that “crisis” either.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Wait. What makes you think the plane didn’t land in Barnstable and his Esclade dropped him at the ferry? A la Al Gore…

  3. tmtfairfax Avatar
    tmtfairfax

    Why would anyone consider what a reporter believes about this politician or that one? Assuming it’s still a profession, journalism ranks barely above pimps and well below the sex workers themselves.

  4. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Those in power are the elites, by definition. Those whose elites are out of power complain about the “New Ruling Class”, as if they did not have a “ruling class” when they were in power.

    Kerry complains about Obama’s birthday party and implies that he feels the rules applicable to others don’t apply to him. According to newspaper reports, those attending Obama’s party had to submit negative COVID tests to be admitted. Compare that to the events that Trump held last year and has held this year. And I would bet that those attending the biker event are not going to have to submit negative tests. By the way, Obama scaled back his invitation list after the virus counts surged again. Are the organizers of the biker event going to do that?

    She rehashes the criticisms (justified, I agree) about Pelosi and Newsom. What is interesting is that she did not mention Ted Cruz’s trip to Cancun just when his state was suffering widespread blackouts and other effects of extreme cold. And then there is that former president who campaigned as a populist, never mind that he inherited an estimated $413 million (in 2018 dollars) from his father and lived in quarters at his own private golf club and said that not paying taxes “makes me smart”.

    If you are going to criticize power elites for behaving as if the same rules don’t apply to them, don’t limit your criticism to the elites from the other side; include your own elites, as well.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      oh geeze and spoil half the posts here on BR and most of them from Kerry?

    2. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      There are plenty of elites to go around. George Allen comes to mind (the politician, not the former football coach). I have friends who went to college with Allen. They all remember him as a dime store cowboy telling some of the worst racist jokes on record. So when some Asian-American NoVa kid goes to one of Allen’s rallies and points a video camera at the candidate – what does Allen do? Calls him “Mecaca” while being filmed. Then, in true Northam-like manner, Allen decides to reveal the secret Jewish heritage of his Tunisian born mother as some kind of twisted explanation.

      Two Virginia elitists almost made it to the White House. Both married to enhance their elite credentials. Chuck Robb married LBJ’s daughter but was laid low by a nude massage administered by a former Miss Virginia. Tim Kaine married the daughter of former Virginia governor Linwood Holton. His path top the White House was cut short by a karate chop from the woman at the top of the ticket who ran the worst campaign in American history.

      Then there’s Mark Warner. Being a centi-millionaire wasn’t enough to keep him from lining his pockets with gifts and special interest money as governor and good old Bob McDonnell who ran around with a guy so smarmy that just the sight of him on TV had me checking my wallet. The wizard was going to turn tobacco in to health food.

      It’s hard to say whether it’s the elitism or the buffoonery of Virginia politicians that makes them so sad.

        1. DJRippert Avatar
          DJRippert

          I can’t tell if this is DeSantis or Cuccinelli.
          Maybe you just don’t like Italian Americans.

          Let’s assume it’s Ronnie.

          Public high school graduate.

          Academics & athletics at Yale. Captain of the Yale baseball team he hit .336 his senior year. BA in history (magna cum laude).

          Spent a year after graduating from Yale as a teacher.

          Graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School.

          Naval officer. Honorable discharge.

          Deployed to Iraq.

          Bronze star medal award winner

          Net worth: $348,832 (as of Dec 31, 2020)

          A 42 year old veteran with a net worth of just under $350,000 is an elite?

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            yep – and RULER of Florida!

            He fires those who disagree with him and intimidates others and tells private businesses like Cruise Ships what to do or not and he’s just getting started!

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            yep –

            Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings received a federal judge’s blessing on Sunday to flout the Florida law that bans companies from demanding proof of vaccination against the coronavirus.

            In a statement Monday morning, the governor’s office said it disagreed with the judge’s legal reasoning and would appeal the ruling.

            Under the law, first issued as an executive order by DeSantis in April, Norwegian could have faced millions of dollars in fines each time a ship left port. The company is scheduled to sail the Norwegian Gem, its first ship in nearly a year and a half from Florida, on Aug. 15. That departure from Miami comes at a time when the state’s coronavirus case numbers are exploding amid a new wave sweeping the country, fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant.”

            This is elitism and buffoonery at it’s best.

            This goofball is yammering about hurting businesses as he does just that himself in a state where because of his policies, the virus has gone wild.

            He’s forcing schools to open without safety measures against the virus – as teachers and kids are now getting the virus.

            What kind of idiot does this?

            This is what Northam has NOT done.

      1. Brian Leeper Avatar
        Brian Leeper

        “It’s hard to say whether it’s the elitism or the buffoonery of Virginia politicians that makes them so sad.”

        They’re definitely a fine example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, aren’t they?

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Truth is, most GOP Guvnors tend to want to “rule” their states.

          And I don’t know what the Va Constitution excuse is.

          Maybe you need to explain the difference between the Va Constitution and the other states… in terms of what is wrong?

          The big thing I would point out is that Virginia came from the segregationist south , no question, plantation elites the whole nine years – but Virginia has gone purple and may be on it’s way to blue.

          That “blue” is coming from it’s voters not the ruling politicos…

          The party of Byrd is long gone…

          1. Brian Leeper Avatar
            Brian Leeper

            Larry, I think you meant to reply to DJ, not me. What you wrote appears to be a reply to DJ’s comment….

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            my bad…. yep..

          3. DJRippert Avatar
            DJRippert

            Larry is the product of Virginia public schools. He is easily confused. However, it would be untrue to blame that confusion on Larry being forced to learn over the internet via computer using video conferencing technology.

          4. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Actually the product of a half dozen or more public schools from Texas, to Florida to Rhode Island and in between.

            Some things I got taught twice and others not at all!

            😉

          5. DJRippert Avatar
            DJRippert

            Given that I am very much the product of Virginia’s public school system I felt entitled to make that comment.

          6. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Are you claiming superiority or inferiority?

          7. DJRippert Avatar
            DJRippert

            The Virginia Constitution effectively requires a standard quality education to be offered, free of charge, to any Virginian from K-12.

            The definition of “quality” rests with the General Assembly and only the General Assembly.

            The General Assembly has put forth the Standards of Quality (SoL) approach to measuring quality.

            Northam and the General Assembly waived the SoLs – at least for accreditation purposes. Schools will be assigned a rating of “Accreditation Waived,” the same rating assigned for schools for 2020-2021 under a wavier issued in April.

            So …

            The state constitution requires the quality of K-12 public education to be measured by the General Assembly. Not the schools, not the school boards, not the teachers, the General Assembly.

            The Democratic General Assembly gave the Democratic Secretary of Education the right to waive the SoLs during the pandemic. Then, the Democratic governor allowed huge school systems to close against the advice of scientists to protect against what turned out to be nothing.

            Normally, constitutional requirements can only be changed through the amendment process.

            This is nothing more than pandering to the urban and suburban teachers’ unions.

          8. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            They waived them because of the impact of the virus. What kind of idiocy dings him for that? Let me answer. Right Wing idiocy. Pure partisan asshat-ness.

            Maryland did the same: ” Maryland delays state testing until fall and cuts back on length of exams”

            https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/maryland-standardized-test-delay/2021/03/04/706e662e-7d36-11eb-a976-c028a4215c78_story.html

            Libtwits? How about Conservative DIMWITS!

            NOT Reported in Conservative Media including BR is that SOLs will be given this fall so they can measure how far behind the kids are and re-calibrate instruction to deal with that.

  5. William Cover Avatar
    William Cover

    I guess I do not agree that those in power are elites by definition. People holding elected offices may tell people they are elite and behave in that matter. It is quite effective psychology to those that have no knowledge or understanding of history, demand the government provide food clothing and shelter, and miss the European Monarchies for social direction. America is a young democracy and as Rev Goode put it in his 1826 first edition biography of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, something to the effect and I am paraphrasing, it is the responsibility of each new generation to maintain and defend democracy. It is not stagnant, it is always a struggle for freedom, even when we are free. The capture of the educational system several decades ago by the movement that wants to be ruled by an elite class is winning. But the witching hour is coming and American descendants of the original colonial settlers and our first generation Americans we have welcomed here will have to make a decision. Freedom or socialism. In Socialism, those in power are defined as the elite. In Freedom, the people are defined in power and all citizens have equal protection from the law. Elitism is for the socialist and communist parties.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      In today’s Conservative philosophy, it seems to me, many top-tier European countries are considered “socialist” and not what the US should aspire to be, that we should reject European “socialism”.

      But it’s more than Europe. Other countries like Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, Singapore, even Russia and China and others are also similar in services provided to their citizens – like health care, education, passenger trains, etc.

      Virtually all the top “socialist” countries rank higher in education and literacy levels than the US, and they have longer life expectancies.

      It’s hard to get Conservatives to say what they DO want instead, but it sounds a lot like what developing, and 3rd world countries have where individuals are responsible for things like education and health care and not Government.

      Conservatives get tangled up on what words like socialism actually mean, and/or they just have different definitions.

      For instance, public roads where the government has taken land from private property owners and built so that anyone can use – is very much socialism. The idea that property owners are “justly compensated” does not change the fact that they were forced to sell and give up their land to the govt in the first place. That’s plain and simple socialism.

      What would the US be without its road system?

      So, Conservatives are either “ok” with that “kind” of socialism or they twist the meaning of it so that they can pretend that public roads are not really socialism, at least not the kind they are against!

      1. William Cover Avatar
        William Cover

        Thanks for the comments. I am not thinking that the exercise of the powers delegated under the commerce clause are not essential for an orderly society. Government has a role as you point out in land use for transportation etc. I am looking at the movement of acceptance that the government is responsible for a person’s fundamental needs and personal decisions. The Soviet Union and the Chinese communist parties forced the people to become dependent on the government for food clothing shelter, by threat of death and controlling the distribution of goods. Our country is volunteering the control of goods being distributed by government and thus behaves not to upset what people call the “elites”. A small example is a discussion I had at a healthcare conference before Obama Care was passed. The speaker stated that one Scandinavian government mandated one provider to supply artificial hips. All the devices would be inserted following the same surgical procedure and all the devices would be the same size. The health experts would decide which surgical procedure and the size of the artificial hip. This would reduce manufacturing costs and operating room expenses. No malpractice because everything is identical. Do you think that really worked? An inactive 80 year old would have the same hip as an active 25 year old recovering from a war injury. If the approach is extended we would have one pair of glasses with same sight correction. One vision correction for all no matter their needs.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Thanks for your comments.

          Each country determines to what extent they will cover some kinds of health care.

          In this country, for most of us not retired, it’s the insurance company that decides what you get and what you don’t.

          Medicare and Medicaid and the VA do the same for others.

          Unless you are solely financially responsible for your health care – it’s not you that decides what is or is not covered.

          Are we talking on the same level about the same thing?

  6. Sophistication kills the Covid virus? Who knew?

  7. StarboardLift Avatar
    StarboardLift

    Mao was tired of elitism, too.

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