Cynical Nation

I'm not usually much for armchair psychoanalysis, but I do think that Jake Gagnon may have a point.

It seems to me that the left is presently going through a period in history analogous to what the right went through from 1932 though 1979: a period of dissent, a period of being the minority not merely in electoral politics but in prevailing political viewpoint. It might be viewed as an "Archie Bunker" phase, a phase in which one feels so overwhelmed by the prevailing political dogma, that one's visceral reactions take over. There were always grains of truth in what Archie said, typically wedged in at the beginning of his dialogues with "Meathead," but invariably Archie found himself pushed to the brink, screaming irrationalities (albeit in a humorous manner that caused us to reflect upon ourselves).

As someone who was very young but already of a conservative bent, I always felt an uncomfortable sympathy with Archie. His trite bigotry seemed forgivable, at least in part, because he was fighting to preserve certain elements of character that had been abandoned by the prevailing dogma, such as self-reliance. That there was some deep, bona fide belief behind those irrationalities made Archie a very human and ultimately endearing personality, notwithstanding his irascible and impolitic nature.

Although Gore and his political compatriots do not have anyone as funny as Norman Lear writing for them, I do have some sympathy for all their flailing, because I sense that they must feel as I did in the prior era.