Trans-Europeans

Ed Laskey has a good essay up on The American Thinker about how the Democrat Party is taking the place of the Ku Klux Klan and the various neo-Nazi organizations as the home of American anti-Semitism.

One of his points is that the Democrats are becoming more "European" in their outlook:

Many of the Democratic elites (John Kerry, among them) spent considerable amounts of time during their formative years overseas or in Ivy League universities. Recall John Kerry’s summers in (where else?) France; or Clinton’s coterie of fellow Oxford graduates. They took deep draughts of the trans-Atlantic ideas that are held in common with European elites. Ivy League universities are clones in many ways of European universities: they often exchange professors from time to time, teach from the same material, and have the same ideological mindset that they inculcate in their students. This commonality has been deepened after college by frequent attendance at international conferences, ceremonies, and cocktail parties. The echo chamber and group think effect has taken hold; in this small universe a common mind-set developed. This process can be called in homage to one of the factors that facilitated the process, the Concorde convergence.

However, the Europeanization of the Democratic Party elites goes beyond this dynamic. In many ways, the coastal cities and the rarified environs that the elite play in are very similar to Europe’s major cities. The brilliant urban theorist Joel Kotkin calls these generally East coast cities Euro-America . He writes,

“Euro-America has always existed in pockets, most particularly among the East coast’s intellectual, cultural and social elites”.

He traces this strengthening trend from the early 1800s to contemporary America. He continues,

“Today the embrace of European values and perspectives also reflects profound economic and social similarities between Euro-America and the continent.”

While they may be losing population and stagnating,

“neither Europe, nor its America simulacra, should be dismissed. Resting on great accomplishments of generations past, they enjoy a near monopoly in major media and top universities”.

Kotkin also noted that these Democratic powerhouses are becoming increasingly estranged from the political and cultural norms of the rest of America. We can call these elite leaders not metrosexuals, as Howard Dean might; instead we can call them trans-Europeans. As Kotkin says, they seek “inspiration from abroad.” (or approval from abroad, as in John Kerry’s “Global Test”)

I can't find anything there to disagree with.

All this brings up an interesting point. Abraham Lincoln told us that "a house divided against itself cannot stand". How much longer with the American "house" be able to continue functioning with the internal divisions which are currently ripping it apart?