Alger Hiss and the Tea Parties of Today

For John, BLUF:  Some political views are so old we no longer recognize the roots.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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My respect for Harvard Law Professor Cass Sunstein just went up several notches, based upon this article, which helps explain what is a long term cultural thread.  The article is "How the Alger Hiss Case Explains the Tea Party" and it appeared today in Bloomberg.

Here are the last two paragraphs:

Chambers’ broader charge -- that liberalism was a species of socialism, “inching its ice cap over the nation” -- polarized the nation.  His attack on the patriotism of the Ivy League elite reflected an important strand in American culture, and it helped to initiate suspicions that persist to this day.

Liberals are no longer much interested in Hiss’s conviction, yet they are puzzled, and rightly object, when they are accused of holding positions that they abhor.  We can’t easily understand those accusations, contemporary conservative thought or the influence of the Tea Party without appreciating the enduring impact of the Hiss case.

If you wish for more excerpts, go to the Althouse blog, here.  Or read the whole thing.

However, the big thing is to try and remember to listen to what the other chap is saying and not just judge him or her because they live in Cambridge.  See Greg Page's blog post that touches on this issue.♠

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Of course it doesn't help that many looked down their noses at Governor Sarah Palin, because she attended several different colleges and was the graduate of some cow college in Idaho.  To be fair, the University of Idaho is a Land Grant college, like MIT and UMass Amherst.