The defeat of Labor in Britain is a good moment to talk about how conservatism gains a following from the public it fleeces. I gained some insight into this from a film review in the libertarian magazine Reason: Richard Jewell Shows What a Conservative Hollywood Would Look Like.
I found the review interesting not for its validity but for revealing the appeal of conservatism to its popular base. Richard Jewell was an outsider, put down for being heavy, rural, and socially awkward. This is the natural constituency of conservatism, the film reviewer assumes, because liberalism is what stigmatizes the Richard Jewells. The film is taking heat for portraying a journalist as a whore. But that rhetorical choice is clearly not just for titillation – it taps into a deep resentment. It was the liberal female media elite that released Jewell’s name as a terror suspect, subjecting a regular Joe to maximum social humiliation. This wounded personal psyche is the key to how the wolf 1% befriends its prey.
It reminds me of talking to a guy who believed he could not get a small business loan because illegal immigrants were getting the money. Or this article from Phyllis Schlafly’s sons which claims that liberals are importing illegal African immigrants to America to steal elections. The liberal plot to put down the little guy never stops. “Why Is Africa Moving to Maine?”