Unconscious

Roger Simon describes the legions of affluent Christmas shoppers already descending on NYC stores. Of course, almost all of those folks voted for John Kerry. Much has been written about how Red State proles "voted against their own interests" in casting ballots for Bush. Yes, somehow, when elites do exactly the parallel thing, it is taken as a sign of enlightened higher principle, not false consciousness.

In fact, of course, it is precisely the same point being made in both cases: That presidential elections are about much more than social class loyalties and money. If the self-appointed left intelligentsia want to better understand the behavior of their fellow citizens, as well as their own behavior, the first thing they should do is to shed their kindergarten version of Marxism.

But they won't, because they have no alternative moral-political schema to replace it.