or, my Unified Field Theory of Republicanism and Destruction of the Social Safety Net.
So, I was at a bachelor party in Montreal last month.
For a college buddy of mine. Along with us were a few guys from college, his high school and his current workplace (an investment bank).
First, getting there: the anger towards Americans was palpable at airport customs entering Canada. God, that was unpleasant. Even more annoying was having no one in my party understand when I said the surly behavior was because the world has had it with America.
Well, we go on to do the typical bachelor party things. In the interest of avoiding a pie fight, I'll leave out the details. But I will focus on one event: the big dinner.
We went to a hideously expensive steak house. As often happens with a shared bill, everyone starts jacking up their orders (someone should write a game theory article on the shared restaurant bill appetizer and drink ordering phenomenon).
Most of the guys on the trip are New Yorkers and are used to the drippingly obsequious service found in New York steak houses. These are "male" domains and very conservative. And in such places, a fawning waitstaff is de rigeur.
Not in Montreal. Service there was fine. Adequate. Normal. Actually, just the way I like it: human.
That didn't stop the grumbling. The Wall Street contingent at the table continuously remarked how the service "sucked." They belittled the waitstaff, upped their demands, pushed and pushed. I looked away and ignored it, because the behavior made me ill.
But I realized something. Service in Canada WAS different. And that's because these waiters weren't gonna starve if they lost their jobs. And they ain't gonna lose their jobs, anyway. In New York, the immigrant staff is gone if they screw up. And that means going hungry. It means having nothing.
That's the difference between having a social safety net and having nothing. It's the difference between people acting human towards each other, even if they're in different economic strata - Canada - and outright class hatred - the US.
And I realized something else: the republican/conservative type gets a kick out of degredation. They LIKE being served obsequiously, as close to plantation style as they can get. Lording over the masses is a thrill to them.
This hostility, love of degredation, status consciousness gone wild goes a great way to explaining phenomena our side seems baffled by. It's why you can't logic out the reasons for the Iraq War, or tax cuts, or drilling in ANWAR, or the reaction to Katrina.
I'm not sure how understanding this dynamic can help us. But I think it may somehow. I urge you to think about it, and how we can develop strategies for making the true face of conservatism apparent to Americans. A face which for me is perfectly summed up by Dick Cheney's gruesome sneer.