Editorials/Liberals in the Dark/With the Yuppies
Tyrrell, R. Emmett Jr.
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...How is" the American people feel they have gone employed in positions that assume inmystery to be explained...
...They slog on, climbing ever upward, buying BMWs, fretting over American materialism, acquiring fine wines, and welcoming progressive pastoral letters from contented American bishops...
...Th~ are issues that evoke vast displays of bathos doubt that hundreds of billions more them as an eighteenth-century peasant and bilge from the public moralizers of will turn the dependent into free and scratching away at the soil and wearthe Republic...
...Actually, I heard c siderably more palaver about the pr igies being wrought by Californ winegrowers...
...Then came Novem- people are against welfare and civil the media, the educational establishber 6, and he lost every state in the rights, for instance...
...Everywhere I go I speak seductively of the wisdom that I have interred in my latest tome, The Liberal Crack-Ulz and keep a weather eye out for the constituent elements of that crack-up, particularly Yuppies...
...pass on to other public matters and the Americans...
...ty...
...What do the Reaganites have in mind...
...From all I can tell the answer would have been in the we were told that according to the polls the citizenry agreed with Mr...
...They have spent hundreds of observe that they are almost as ig"issues" were liberal issues...
...Otherwise Americ~ politics will remain a mystery, and apparent injustice--at least to o elites...
...as far as they can with government telligence, education, and sophisticaAfter profound cerebrations and solutions to these problems...
...It is that the ment, and other such realms...
...There were to be found press 7...
...All the ominous claptrap about billions of dollars on welfare and they norant of the forces at work around the Roosevelt coalition have mow somewhat to the right, whi Democrats like Mr...
...palm-court tinkhng of a cocktail party piano Guests I arrived in ume for Archbishop Outside, down m the foyer, there was stage Rembert Weakland's Sunday press conference...
...Has the average Americano sympathetic toward such pious conlost his mind...
...But as issues go they are America a very expensive proposition, dead issues--at least with the majori- and they are tapped out...
...Falwell only citizens who disagree are stoneheaded reactionaries and those found him irrelevant when he droned charlatans who exploit these issues for on about the poor and the suffering...
...tradictory to the point of stupefaction...
...Mondale have been perfumed desiderata heaved up in recent months by the doughty Walter Mondale...
...It is not that the American Such liberals have vast influence in on "the issues...
...Naturally, the average Americano Adapted from RET's weekly Washington Post column syndicated by King Features...
...Well, it now appears that Ronal Reagan understands America bett~ than do Mr...
...Mondale ha found themselves trapped by left-win extremists...
...A more illuminating ques- Mondale is now, most probably, warmtion for the pollsters to ask would have ing himself in the same waters of selfbeen: Should Mr...
...For such liberals these are dark days...
...Did he know during the the rising powers of the Rev...
...They op- tion...
...I have spent useful hours their establishment and it is my unh py duty to report to the Ameri~ bishops that in all the Yuppie yakk I have heard very little expended on bishops' exhortations about Tt World poverty...
...My guess is that Mr...
...Did he know that there is a growing body of scholarship suggesting that the San Francisco--American society convery programs that Mr...
...Now they want to cerns and needs of his fellow ankle...
...The questions for the futu are: Can the Democrats free themsel~ from the extremists, and do the m Republicans have the acuity to gain least equality in the media and t universities...
...This is not to say that the average Americano is against that nub of truth that rests at the center of these issues, but most Americans feel that they have ward off the ague...
...And it is very amusing to vouchsafe the explanation: The tion...
...the Great felt Walter Mondale would be more to the average Americano's state of suggests that there are liberals out ther Republic...
...What remains a mystery is how For the menfolk, mandatory coats and such a smart fellow as Walter Mondale ties in public...
...The tasks they perform are inscholarly consultations with learned pose any more coercive social engineer- tegral to modern life in the late twenprofessors 1 am now in a position to ing...
...Mot dale was heard uttering such weird stut as "Have you noticed that in the pa, four years, we haven't heard the wore 'compassion' or 'decency' or 'sha ing?'" And he concluded: "That's n( America...
...But tt is grave confusion among the I gressives in this department...
...They are against affirmative ac- tieth century...
...late campaign that most Americans their own gain...
...Mondale and his fello liberals...
...They find life in ing an old sock around his neck to nize us all...
...bishops, for instance, lecture us on ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ 1 7 6 1 7 6 1 7 6 1 7 6 1 7 6 1 7 6 1 7 6 ~ O O Q O O O O O O O O O O by R. Emmett TyrreU, J expecting such reforms and worse...
...Theirs is a movement to watch, and THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR JANUARY in San Francisco one of the best v." tage points for watching Yuppies i s Washington Square Bar & Grill, a c~ genial eatery run by two life-it Democrats, Ed Moose and S Deitsch...
...be very au couranr with progres: America's moral conscience...
...Is he actually against tax cerns as welfare~ the environment, and those who voted against him...
...LIBERALS IN THE DARK What is happening in...
...They did not expire with the expiry of Senator Gary Hart's campaign...
...Ot in the hills of West Virginia at the fa end of campaign '84, the Hon...
...Mondale would tinues to churn out its multitude of fatten are now afflictions for the poor contradictions, some of which are conand suffering...
...Mondale remains completely oblivious Here I am, in a city that in this year's 6 WITH THE YUPPIES elections went heavily for the party of compassion & decency...
...Phelps whipped together and in the spirit of enterprise created a product that is first class All of us know that in Slhcon Valley Yankee ingenuity is creating high-grade products that the world has never seen before To the north of the valley that same ingenuity is turning out one of the oldest products known to the species Homo sapiens, and it Is equally welcome As I am wont to say these days, hberahsm has cracked up The bishops go their way The Yupp~es go theirs If I have to choose I shall go with the Yuppies Their wine may not be blessed but m northern Cahfornla it has created economic growth, the surest way to allevmte poverty [] IDEAS i Embassy Room, right next door to Twigs At this function a member of the working press was heard to announce that the bishops were progresslng, but that John O'Connor of New York was something of an embarrassment (An atavism ) by Tom Bethell kits, plasuc labels, free coffee, and an utterly devout media flock, at one end of the room was a whole forest of TV cameras perched on tripods, and at the other a dais, a lectern, a long table, and five concerned bishops illuminated by megawatts Archbishop Weakland delivered his indictment from center the mconsequenUa...
...As pieties go they tyran- self-reliant citizens...
...increases and opposed to all the other civil rights...
...o . ~ 1 7 6 I EDITORIALS " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O O ~ O 6 O O Q mind and to the real problems facing love as all those other liberals who lay the recent electoral results to the selfishness of the electorate...
...Bible readings on the evening news...
...Times have changed as ha, the issues...
...Mondale negative...
...The Ronald Reagan of twe~ ty years ago has moved a bit to the let Sensible liberals and other members a Yuppies, of course, are supposec obvious--our responsibility to our neighbors--whale prescribing fmled panaceas, to w~t SOClahsm or at least a welfare state w~thout hm~ts Others, such as Yuppms, are absolutely convmced of their own moral superiority over other productive members of the Republic and go on about their business, consuming madly--and at the Washington Square Bar & Grill the Yupples' staple was Cahfornia wine Is this bad ~ I think not As hypocrisies go, the Yuppms are bound to have a more salutary influence than many of the other hypocrites at work m the land In their hankering for consumption they are galvanizing enterprise In their bustle to get ahead they are providing goods and services Moreover, sometimes their mundane appetites mHILTON SPIRITUALITY The U S Cathohc b~shops, by now during the recent antl-Capltahst getfamous for their denuncmtion of together Twigs did a roaring episcopal cap~tahsm, stay at the Capital Hilton trade, apparently Sometimes, it when they come to Washington for seemed, the whole restaurant was full their fall annual meeting It has of black suits and clerical collars become a tradltmn, you might say, for Within the Umted States Catholic all except the progressive Auxiliary Conference the objection has been Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, raised that maybe the Hilton is a bit who won't stay at the place And if this worldly, a bit capitalist and maybe the is a portent of things to come, then I bishops should meet m a monastery or should Imagine that within a few years a retreat house But the counterarguthe bishops may very likely be sharing ment has been It is also conveniently lodgings with the street people-- located I mean, a couple of blocks furmshed courtesy of Mltch Snyder from the White House, and a couple and the Community for Creative of blocks from the Washmgton Post ofNon-Vmlence For the moment, however, the bishops unpack their bags at the the other Hdton--pnce range $68 to $140 for One has to consider the media m this single rooms Then they can go day and age They have to be catered downstairs to Twigs, the chic restaurant on the 16th Street side of the building, message to the public ~ And at the with its bamboo basket chatrs, recessed Hilton there are news-center facllmes spot hghts, suspended ferns, and atten- on the mezzanine, telephones aplenty, tive waiters, for a httle pick-me-up reference books and telecop~ers The lump crab and walnut salad, say, or a media will not only be on hand, they glass of Franciscan fume blanc ($16 00 can get pretty impatient at times The a bottle) or amarelle and chocolate Working Press) So, messenger service souffle cheesecake dessert Gumbleton may have withheld his business, but Tom BetheU ts The American Spectator's Washmgton correspondent THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR JANUARY 1985 fices, perfect for blowing a raspberry at one end and accepting a bouquet at to, don't they, ff one is to get one's to Western Umon is available The Weakland press conference, the main event, would be held In the chandelierladen Congressmnal Room Then, later on, the cocktail party for the medm would be given at the deco-decorated crease the amenltmS of Amerman life prodigiously Consider that California wine I have personally reconnoitered no dram on our natural resources at all They demand only sod, sun, hard through the Napa Valley above San Francisco, where some of the very best work, and mgenmty Cahfornla wines are produced The area ~s quite beautiful, putting one m mind of those gentle regmns north of Rome where some of Italy's best wines are produced Two very contemporary currents are encouraging growth m this Cahfornm region Yupples' high-toned tastes and post-1960s entrepreneurship The result ~s the fastest lmprowng wine industry in the world Consider the Joseph Phelps Vineyards Begun only In 1970, they now produce 60,000 cases yearly, all of it comparing favorably with some of France's and Italy's most ancient winegrowing regions or my palate ~s decewmg me The vineyards were begun by Mr Phelps after he had spent years at the head of a successful construction company The endeavor was a gamble A considerable sum was necessary to buy the land and to transform ~t into How those Cathohc b~shops who a prestigious winery Vast knowledge was needed, but the University of Cahforma at Davis has been turning now harangue capltahsm wall take this news ~s as inscrutable to me as their CAPITOL cure-alls for poverty Yet in the Napa Valley jobs are being prowded where once there were few And those jobs are out first-rate students of the grape for years and so the area has its talented oenologlsts All these elements Mr...
...For the ladies, dresses done enough on such matters as civil became so confused about the con- and skirts all the way down to the rights and welfare...
...Throughout the campaign more sympathetic...
...They are Union save Minnesota...
Vol. 18 • January 1985 • No. 1
