The Year Elite Radical Environmentalism Died
There are among us but a few truly capable authors, master wordsmiths with something to say. Chatter is easy, fine spun literature is a rare art.
Victor Davis Hansen is one of those worthy few who have something to say and know how to say it. Hansen is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Standford University and the author of books including The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization (1999), The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern (2010), The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece (2009), Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan to Iraq (2004), and Mexifornia: A State of Becoming (2007).
Between writing insightful historical tomes, Victor Davis Hansen also pens popular essays for the National Review [here]. He is a pundit’s pundit, topical yet stylish in a way that no matter whether you agree with him or not, he’s fun to read. And he’s smart, so that it’s a challenge to disagree with him, most of the time.
Generally his essays concern politics, but on very rare occasions Hansen dashes off a quick piece on an environmental topic. Like yesterday, for instance, when he essayed Gorism.
Gorism, for the uninitiated, is the eco-philosophy of Al Gore, global warming alarmist supreme, author of Earth In the Balance, and poobah of environmental sanctimony.
What makes Gorism so amusingly grotesque is the profligate lifestyle of the Enviro Poobah. Al Gore is a cartoonish reverse caricature of his teachings, a bloated super-consumer who has become a billionaire by bad-mouthing materialist greed and consumerism.
But let’s let Victor spin the tale:
Thoughts on Gorism
From the Sanctimonious to the Ridiculous
by Victor Davis Hanson, Pajamas Media, May 2nd, 2010 [here]
I think sometime this year elite radical environmentalism died. And at about the same time perished also the notion of the man in the mansion as the man on the barricades. Let me explain.
Gorism
We all know that Al Gore has become a near billionaire through tirelessly warning the Western world that our daily habits have ruined the planet and nearly doomed us. Gore argues that what we take for granted — the too large homes in which we live, the carbon-spewing cars that we drive, the superfluous vacations and energy-hogging appurtenances that we enjoy — are all pernicious to the environment, and unsustainable.
That advocacy — expressed through investments, partnerships, advertising, movies, lectures, books, private companies, ads, and essays — has made Al Gore fabulously wealthy. The recent Climategate scandal concerning fudged science did not affect the religion of Gore, LTD.
Nor did the horrendous natural ash cloud that blanketed Europe — and in unprecedented fashion shut down all European air travel for days — remind a humbled Gore that sometimes nature in a second has the destructive power to alter the very way we live in a way that man does not over decades.
No, what ended the gospel of Gorism was Al Gore himself.
In this context, the recently purchased Gore second mansion at Montecito, in Oprah country, is of some national interest. Why would Gore purchase a second energy-guzzling estate, replete with several fireplaces, fountains and bathrooms, when he was stung so badly about his hypocritically profligate energy use in his Tennessee compound, his houseboat, and his private-jet junketeering? Does he understand that his newest mansion is a sort of volcanic ash-cloud that has now overwhelmed Earth in the Balance, Inc?
Never Having to Say You’re Sorry
The answer is sort of important, because it is emblematic of the decline of liberalism over the last thirty years. Collate the anti-capital rants of a zillionaire currency speculator George Soros, the green sermons from a late Ted Kennedy who stopped a wind farm from marring his vacation home’s views, a John Edwards of “two nations” fame constructing a Neronian Golden House, a Tom Friedman warning of the consumer habits that lead to a hot, flat earth from a 10,000 square foot English-style estate of the sort that 18th-century English barons built after successful careers in the Raj, the comic case of Jeremiah Wright moving to a mostly white golf course to dream up more sermons about “white folks’ greed runs a world in need,” or a $5 million a year earning Obama — with all his expenses picked up by the government — lamenting out loud why rich people seem to want ever more money they don’t need. Some spread the wealth around.
We can call this malady Gorism — living not merely at odds with your zealotry, but living entirely against your zealotry — and it seems to reflect a few assumptions of the modern progressive elite that are not mutually exclusive …
To read the rest (including missles shot at Tim Geithner, John Kerry, John Edwards, and Sun-Maid Raisins) see [here]. I’ve already stolen more than Pajamas Media would approve. But hey, Victor Davis Hansen is bigger than PJM — he belongs to the world. So keep your powder dry, PJM, for more worthwhile targets than this little old blog.
by Ned B
I left Sun Maid years ago. And I don’t grow grapes to be picked and laid out to dry in the sun. Dogma don’t do it. Ain’t I the grammarian, now?
Politicians have an approval rating of less than 10%. Translated, that means that nobody today trusts any part of government, left or right.
Nor do they trust Fortune 500 companies, overpaid CEOs and the lawyers, from which all judges are named. Screwing the hoi poli for an eternity has run its course. November will be interesting as to how this country goes forward. Of course, we all want the crook we know, and not the crook we don’t know. Lucky us.
Exclusive Photo Gallery: Check out Al Gore’s New Ocean-View Mediterranean Villa in Montecito [here]
by John M.
Wow! What a nice house Al bought in the land of the lotus blossom. Showed the guys at the hardware store copies of the pictures and they also were impressed. They all agreed it would be nice to live in Santa Barbara and they would like to try it after they get their orchards out of debt, caused in part by all of the “green” rules continuing to push up production costs.
One silly orchardist wondered if we could hold a farmers market at Gore’s place where we could sell some of our fruit to the Beautiful People, and he even wondered if Mr. Gore would send one of his jets up to pick us and our fruit up. We’ll promise to shower, wear clean overalls and clean our boots.
We all agreed we would listen to Mr. Gore’s speeches, when we had to, with a new appreciation of his interest in public service.
And, he’ll need an army of “jardineros” to keep the place looking so “green”. Just doing his part to “offset” the impacts of “green social justice”, I guess. I also guess he’ll need all NINE of those crappers, these days, too, eh? He can’t get TOO far away from one, because he’s always full of it.
“Jardineros.” I like that. Has a lot more class than “Mow and Blow guys.”
Al Gore was raised by a crooked father, totally corrupted by Armand Hammer of Occidental Petroleum and Hammer’s best buddy, a Russian guy name Joe Stalin. They were all jointly in the Arab horse business together. Hammer also got Gore Sr. into pure bred Angus cattle. I was damned near 40 years old when I figured out that purebred livestock business for politicians. A beef cow or steer that goes for so much on the hoof at the auction yard. Tough way to make a living. But when you sell breeding stock, it can sell for whatever amount someone might bid, and it only takes two to drive a price sky high. If you are buying a politician, you go to his bull sale and pay ten times the value for some ordinary old two year old bull. It helps to have Hollywood stars and pro ball players buying your stock. Why Joe Dimaggio would want to buy a bull is beyond me, but he was a Gore Sr. customer.
Those really corrupted guys buddy up to God, and when they have a tough decision to make on how to screw someone out of some money, they hold a vote, them and God, and damn!!! Two to one they always win. You get outvoted. If you don’t think Bill Clinton is into the same deal, on a similar scale, you are not paying attention. The Bush outfit already had too much money for too many generations to need to steal any now. And the Obama outfit can always say Mrs. Obama was so successful at lawyering, board of directors-ing, and investing, that they had plenty when he ran for office. How much more he piles on will be interesting. The Politboro swells never miss a meal or wear rags.
by Forrest Grump
The reason for the palatiality or palatiousness or whatever the state of palatial being is called…is fund raising.
This is where Al can hold the gatherings of his hobnobbing faithful in appropriate style. You know, to raise funds for “philanthropic” endeavors that help the elitist toffs in their search for self-actualization.
Relax people, Jesus won’t allow humanity to spoil the nest his Father gave it.