The Pity Party (41 page)

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Authors: William Voegeli

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“Carina” (Danish social welfare recipient), 70, 73

Carney, Jay, 152

Carter, Jimmy, 29, 137, 189, 192

Cashin, Sheryll, 115

Ceaser, James, 238

certainty, as “enemy of decency and humanity,” 24–25, 27–29

charity

    
beginning and ending of, 40

    
Freidman on limits of private, 212–14

    
government seen as embodiment of, 110

    
Kaus on, 108

    
predicted reduction of after increased government spending, 216–22

    
seen as hindrance to social justice, 215–16

Chavis, Patrick, 179–80

Chief Executive
magazine survey, 69

child labor, steady decline in without federal legislation, 223–24

children

    
Conly on restricting numbers of, 205

    
educational opportunities and, 119–22

    
liberals and empathy for, 86–91, 107–8

    
poverty and single parents, 211

    
Watson on deciding who should have, 172

Children's Defense Fund, 88

Christianity

    
consequences of yielding to modernity, 13–20, 29

    
selfishness and, 23

    
used as call to humanitarianism, 52–55

civil rights

    
early 20th century liberal racism, 100–103

    
Kennedy and, 95, 103–4

    
political importance after World War II, 103–6

Clean Water Act, 200–202

Clinton, Bill, xvi, xxi, 87, 202

    
empathy and, xii

    
Kelly on honesty and, 147–48

    
Krauthammer on foreign policy and social work, 50–51

    
size of government and, 189, 192, 198–99

    
welfare reform in 1996 and, 28, 108–9

Clinton, Hillary, 30, 89, 90

coal, environmental concerns and, 166–68

Coates, Ta-Nehisi, 116

Cohn, Jonathan, 68, 69–70

compassion

    
dangers to democracy, 239–41

    
definitions of, 3–4

    
Democratic Party's political use of, xvi–xviii

    
lack of theory of, 10–12, 21, 235

    
liberalism's “manifesto” for, 6–10

    
liberal paternalism and, 203–5

    
modernity and, 13–18, 21–34

    
rhetoric of, xi–xviii, 4

    
see also
compassionate conservatism; domestic policies; international policies; liberalism

compassionate conservatism

    
Bush's concept of, 206, 209–12

    
problems with, 206–7

Conly, Sarah, 203–4, 205

conservatism

    
Democrats' framing of to exclude compassion, xviii–xx

    
differences with liberalism over means and efficacy of programs, 222–29

    
immigration policies framed as bigoted, 56–58

    
liberals on conservatives' “unwillingness to govern,” 141–42

    
need to clarify mission, 236–39

    
need to protect democracy from self-destruction, 239–41

    
resistance to statism and bullying government, 195–206

    
Waldman on SCHIP ad, 8–9

    
see also
compassionate conservatism

Constitutional concerns, gun control and, 159–60.
See also
Supreme Court, of U.S.

Cook, John, 120

Cotton, Tamaria, 179–80

Coulson, Andrew, 140

Crawford, Matthew, 144–45

Crisis of Confidence, The
(Schlesinger), 99

Critique of Practical Reason
(Kant), 25

Cropsey, Joseph, 220

cultural nationalism, 79–80

Cuomo, Mario, 7, 40–43, 55, 56, 88, 185

Czechoslovakia, 78

Daniels, Mitch, 142, 187, 191

Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice report, 182

Declaration of Independence, 78

deferred gratification, self-interest well understood and, 20

democracy

    
Schlesinger on, 30

    
self-destructive nature of and conservatives' future role, 239–41

Democracy in America
(Tocqueville), 20–21

Democratic National Conventions

    
1936, xviii, 110

    
1948, 103

    
1972, 125–26

    
1984, 7, 185

    
1988, 139, 208

    
1996, xi–xii

    
2000, xii–xiii

    
2012, 207

Democratic Party

    
as party of government, 228

    
political use of compassion, xvi–xviii

    
principle constituencies of, 238

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), per capital GDP of, 35

Denmark, social welfare in, 70–72, 75, 216–17

DiIulio, John, 210

Dionne, E. J. Jr., 150–51

Discourse on Inequality
(Rousseau), 21–22

diversity.
See
affirmative action

domestic policies, compassion and, 85–137

    
consequences of lack of self-reliance, 111–18

    
criticisms of self-reliance, 118–22

    
culture of victimhood developed, 94–100

    
dependence versus self-reliance, 91–93

    
helplessness emphasized, 86–88

    
liberals' reactions to disagreement with, 132–37

    
scale of concern and, 88–91

    
social and political aspects of victimhood, 122–31

    
U.S. spending on welfare as percentage of GDP, 77

    
white guilt and black victimhood, 100–111

    
see also
social welfare programs

Don't Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate
(Lakoff), 9–10

Dorr, Rheta Childe, 89

Douthat, Ross, 49, 75–76

Dukakis, Michael, 208

Dunham, Stanley Ann, xiii–xiv

Ebert, Roger, xvii

economic growth, and liberals' views on social welfare, 66–72

“Economic Mobility Project,” of Pew Charitable Trust, 128

Economist
, 173

Edelman, Marian Wright, 88, 89, 107–8, 119

education

    
California and equal finding of all school districts, 220–22

    
gifted programs, 120–22

    
private schools, 119–20

    
see also
affirmative action

Edwards, John, 127

Egypt, per capital GDP of, 36

8 Mile
(film), 113

Ellis Island immigrants, assimilation and, 79–80, 82

Elshtain, Jean Bethke, 91, 108, 131

Ely, Richard T., 100–101

empathy, defined, 4.
See also
compassion

environmental programs, 163–73

    
carbon dioxide emission reduction, 163, 165–73

    
lack of economic growth for poorer countries and, 169–70

    
recycling, 164–65

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Sacketts and wetlands, 200–202

Epstein, Richard, 223–24

Espenshade, Thomas, 176, 180

Ethics of Redistribution, The
(Jouvenal), 217

ethnonationalism, 77–79

Evanier, Mark, xv–xvi

“Failure of Antigovernment Conservatism, The” (Waldman), 8–9

Fallows, James, 141

Federalist Papers

    
No. 1, 131

    
No. 2, 79

    
No. 10, 15

    
No. 51, 19

    
No. 55, 19

    
No. 62, 73

Federation for American Immigration Reform, 184–85

Ferguson, Andrew, 188

“fighting faith,” of liberals, 29–31

Fischel, William, 220, 221–22

Florida, Richard, 81

Foer, Franklin, 151

Fonte, John, 79–80

Food Stamps, xix, xx

“Forgotten Man, The” (Sumner), 195–96

Four Reforms
(Buckley), 230–31

France, social welfare in, 216–17

Frankfurt, Harry, 144–48

Friedersdorf, Conor, 156, 159

Friedman, Milton, 212–14, 229, 231

Fukuyama, Francis, 16

Galbraith, John Kenneth, 96

Galston, William, 92–93, 192

Garrison, William Lloyd, 52–53, 54

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 101–3

Gingrich, Newt, 209

Ginsburg, Ruth Bader, 202

Glazer, Nathan, 150

global warming.
See
carbon dioxide emission reduction, liberal proposals for

Goldberg, Jeffrey, 160, 162

Golden Rule, Rousseau on, 25

Goodhart, David, 38–39, 82

Gopnik, Adam, 156–57, 159

Gore, Al, xii–xiii, 152, 165

Grayson, Alan, xix

Great Society, Cuomo's defense of, 7

Green, Joshua, 126

“Gross World Product” statistics, 35–36

Gruber, Jonathan, 183–84

Guatemala, per capital GDP of, 36

gun control, liberal proposals for, 152–63

    
constitutional impediments to, 159–60

    
practical impediments to, 160–63

Haag, Pamela, 130

Hahne, Marty, 1–3, 200, 202

Haidt, Jonathan, 132

Hamill, Pete, 23, 219

Hamilton, Alexander, 131

Hand, Learned, 24, 27, 28, 51

Harrington, Michael, 96

Harris-Perry, Melissa, 90, 119, 222

Harvard University, 177–78

Hatch, Orrin, letter to, 164

Hayek, Friedrich, 197–98

Hayward, Steven, 165–66

Head Start, 139–41, 143, 148

health insurance issues

    
gun registration and information privacy concerns, 162–63

    
rhetoric of compassion and, xi–xv

    
Waldman on SCHIP, 8–9

    
see also
Affordable Care Act

Helms, Jesse, 31

helplessness, in domestic liberal agenda, 86–88, 92–93.
See also
victimhood

Hitler, Adolf, 17–18

“Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980–2008,” 112

Hopkins, Harry, 86

House of Games
(Mamet), 26

Hull, Cordell, 50

humanitarianism, and liberals' call to higher patriotism, 50–55

human resources programs.
See
social welfare programs

Humphrey, Hubert, xviii, 66, 86, 87, 104, 206

Huntington, Samuel, 78–79

Hurricane Sandy, 118–19

hydrological fracturing (fracking), liberals' rejection of despite lowered carbon emissions from, 166–67, 170, 173

“I Don't Know, So I'm an Atheist Libertarian” (Jillette), 196–97

immigration policy

    
benefits to liberals of open policy, 55–58

    
border control and, 184–85

    
Carens on limited rights to deport, 59–65

    
jobs and, 63–66

    
problems created by not enforcing laws, 58–63

Index of Leading Environmental Indicators
,
2008
, 165–66

India, per capital GDP of, 36

In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State
(Murray), 229–35

international policies, and limits of compassion, 35–83

    
calls to ‘higher” patriotism, 48–55

    
economic growth versus good place to be poor, 66–72

    
ethnonationalism and assimilation concerns, 75–83

    
immigration policy and, 55–66

    
international development and humanitarian assistance of U.S., 37

    
moral contraction and dismissal of bad outcomes, 72–75

    
proximity versus severity of need concerns, 39–43

    
relative poverty and, 43–47

It Takes a Village
(Clinton), 89, 90

Jay, John, 79

Jencks, Christopher, 65, 80–81

Jillette, Penn, 196–97

jobs, immigration policy and, 63–66

Johnson, Lyndon, 46, 96–97, 125, 225

Jouvenel, Bertrand de, 217

Joyce, Michael S., 207–8

judgment, liberals' suspending of and dismissal of bad outcomes of programs, 72–75

“Judge's ‘Spirited Woman'” (Twain), 33

Kagan, Elena, 202

Kant, Immanuel, 19, 25, 26, 40, 213

Kaus, Mickey, 33, 65, 108, 125

Kazin, Michael, 31

Keillor, Garrison, xvi–xvii, 132–33

Kelly, Michael, 147–48

Kennedy, David, 103

Kennedy, Edward, 5–6, 179

Kennedy, John F.

    
Civil Rights and, 95, 103–4

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