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Kamala Harris’ Authoritarian ‘Joy’


By: Ben Shapiro | August 21, 2024

Read more at https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/08/21/kamala-harris-authoritarian-joy/

Kamala Harris on stage with a red background in a light brown suit smiling and waving
Vice President Kamala Harris addresses the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 19, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

We’ve been told, over and over and over again, that Kamala Harris is the candidate of “joy.” Tim Walz, upon accepting his vice-presidential nomination, thanked her for “bringing back the joy.” Rolling Stone gushed that Harris’ “new politics of joy is the best way to fight fascism.” The New York Times headlined, “Harris used to worry about laughing. Now joy is fueling her campaign.”

Now, for most Americans, this simply is not a time of joy.

Not a single poll shows more than 35% believing that the country is moving in the right direction. Two thirds of Americans think America is on the wrong track. Meanwhile, the supposed candidate of joy has the approval of approximately 46% of Americans; almost 50% are unfavorable on her.

Three years of extraordinary inflation means that everyday items now cost at least 20% more than they did in 2021. Uncertainty and chaos span the globe, from Ukraine to Taiwan to the Middle East. Americans no longer know whether they can safely say that a man is different than a woman while simultaneously being informed that it is deeply important that they elect a woman president.

But … joy.

It’s a brilliant marketing gimmick, to be sure. Kamala Harris’ career has been filled with three marked characteristics:

  • blatant and manipulative calculation;
  • heavy-handed government interventionism;
  • and awkward, off-putting mannerisms ranging from word salad to laughter.

But “joy” can be used as a shield against all these charges. She’s not manipulative—she’s genuine! She’s not tyrannical—she’s caring! She’s not awkward and phony—she’s joyous! That laughter you hear isn’t the strange cackling of a machine politician caught in a lie. It’s a sheer outburst of happiness springing directly from the heart of a woman who is dancing on the inside. She is youth, she is joy, she is a little bird that has broken out of the egg!

Joy is also a sword to be used against opponents. Donald Trump, we are told, is a candidate of darkness and revenge. JD Vance, his vice presidential candidate, is “weird” and authoritarian. Why can’t they feel the joy?

In fact, why don’t you feel the joy? Is something wrong with you? Why can’t you bob your head to Beyoncé’s “Freedom” while Kamala dances and Tim Walz pastes on a smile so broad it would turn Jack Nicholson’s Joker green with envy? Do you hate joy?

All of this is, to put it mildly, slightly sinister.

It is one thing to demand that Americans vote for a candidate for the presidency on the basis of her policies, or even on the basis of her opponent’s supposed unworthiness. It is another to demand that we feel the joy. It reeks of authoritarians of the past, all of whom suggested that the failures of their policies were not failures of leadership, but failure of the people to change their hearts of stone for hearts of flesh.

It is not a coincidence that Josef Stalin’s propaganda posters routinely featured small children gazing adoringly up at him, with the slogan emblazoned, “We Are Warmed by Stalin’s Affection!” Or that Mao’s posters similarly featured celebratory children, with the words, “Mao’s Words Bring Joy!” Or that Hitler offered free vacations to members of the German Labour Front with the slogan, “Strength Through Joy!” (One legacy of “Strength Through Joy” was the German “People’s Car,” later to be known as the Volkswagen Beetle.)

Authoritarians demand emotional fealty, not merely political fealty.

This doesn’t mean that Kamala Harris is a Stalinist, Maoist, or Nazi (although members of the radical Democratic Party base seem to be warm toward aspects of all three regimes).

It does mean that authoritarianism papers over its totalitarian policies with the soothing platitudes of paternalism and maternalism and demands that you sacrifice the true joys in life—family, church, community—in favor of a Big Brother. Or, in the case of Kamala Harris, a Big Mother.

Just feel the joy. And stop asking questions.

COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM

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Survey: Two-Thirds Of Elites Say There’s Too Much Freedom In America


BY: EVITA DUFFY-ALFONSO | JANUARY 19, 2024

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2024/01/19/survey-two-thirds-of-elites-say-theres-too-much-freedom-in-america/

Elites

The nation’s ruling class holds deeply authoritarian opinions widely divorced from the rest of the American electorate, finds a survey out this week. It found nearly 60 percent of American “elites” think there is too much individual freedom in America. Meanwhile, nearly 60 percent of registered voters have the exact opposite opinion, reporting the United States has too much top-down control, limiting liberty. 

The study, titled “Them Vs. U.S,” defined the American “elite” as “having a postgraduate degree, a household income of more than $150,000 annually, and living in a zip code with more than 10,000 people per square mile.” Such people account for about 1 percent of Americans. The study also examined a sub-sample of the 1 percent who graduated from Ivy League schools or other name-brand institutions such as Northwestern, Duke, Stanford, and the University of Chicago.

The study from the Committee to Unleash Prosperity found ruling class opinions on climate policies were particularly harsh and despotic. More than two-thirds of the 1 percent support rationing vital energy and food sources in an attempt to control the globe’s weather. That number jumped to nearly 90 percent among the Ivy Leaguers. Around two-thirds of normal registered voters, however, oppose rationing vital resources.

Limiting food and water consumption is a serious proposition to global leaders. For example, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, an environmentalist organization of city leaders across the globe, has proposed annihilating meat and dairy consumption by 2030. 

“An astonishing 72% of the Elites – including 81% of the Elites who graduated from the top universities – favor banning gas cars,” the study authors continued. “And majorities of elites would ban gas stoves, non-essential air travel, SUVs, and private air conditioning.”

Elites’ view of other elites is very different from regular registered voters’ view of elites. On the education front, “Two-thirds (67%) [of the 1 percent] say teachers and other educational professionals should decide what children are taught rather than letting parents decide.” Only 38 percent of registered voters felt the same. 

“About six of ten elites have a favorable opinion of the so-called talking professions—lawyers, lobbyists, politicians, and journalists,” wrote the study authors. Additionally, “In stark contrast to the rest of America, 70% of the Elites trust the government to ‘do the right thing most of the time.’”

Unsurprisingly, “about three-quarters of these cultural elites are Biden supporters.” While only 20 percent of Americans say they are better off financially under Biden, nearly three-quarters of the elites say they are better off under Biden.

The study comes as global leaders meet in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting to discuss draconian climate policies and crackdowns on freedom of speech and therefore freedom of thought. So far at the conference, elites have discussed establishing a “new world order,” lobbied for censorship in the name of “disinformation and misinformation,” and labeled farming and fishing “ecocide.” 

The WEF policy proposals and the results of this survey reveal what the Committee to Unleash Prosperity describes as a “Grand Canyon-sized chasm” between regular citizens and those who largely claim the expertise and power to rule over others with or without their consent. 

“These results confirm what people have long suspected,” wrote the study authors: “Today, there are two Americas. One is wealthier, more highly educated, and attended the best schools. They put much more trust in big government ‘to do the right thing’ and, by their own admission, benefit from more expansive government policies. They have also been hurt far less by the high inflation of the Biden presidency than those who live from paycheck to paycheck and are in the lower and middle classes.”

Evita Duffy-Alfonso is a staff writer to The Federalist and the co-founder of the Chicago Thinker. She loves the Midwest, lumberjack sports, writing, and her family. Follow her on Twitter at @evitaduffy_1 or contact her at evita@thefederalist.com.

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