He's one of them there interlectuhls. I can tell. Maybe that's why he doesn't talk to his rube, midwestern friend anymore.
There is some truth to Brooks's contention, but I don't think it explains why Republicans have lost the coasts and metropolitan areas. The rise of Republican populism, regrettable as it may be, is fairly recent. And it is regrettable, but that is politics in an increasingly democratic age. Do Republicans have to get in the populism game to win? I don't know, but I'll note, our Founders created a republic not a simple democracy. But we have over time continued to abolish republican checks on our democracy.
Back to the point, the culture has liberalized and most of its institutions--universities among them--are left-leaning. This is in part a cause of "educated" people, perhaps, tending to be more liberal not the Republicans offending them with their everyman appeal. (not sure the contention that educated people are more Democratic is true. It is with advanced degrees but I thought I read somewhere that President Bush won a majority of those with Bachelors degrees.) Democrats have been claiming to be for the little guy for the last 75 years and have simulaneously held sway over the intellectual class. Perhaps, as Brooks says, the Republicans actually do reflect the culture of joe sixpack. Again, probably unfortunate to some extent.
Brooks likes to think of himself as some lone high-minded conservative with only philistines as political allies. I am increasingly skeptical of his conservatism. As far as he warns that conservatism should not become an anti-intellectual pursuit, I agree depending upon what we're calling an intellectual. If it is simply someone who writes or teaches for a living or values learning then I can agree. But there is some valid anti-intellectualism out there if you keep in mind Paul Johnson's definition of an intellectual--someone who cares more for ideas than people, adheres to an ideology despite reality, and thinks it within his rational faculties to solve the world's problems with ideological prescriptions. A conservative is not unlearned or unsophisticated, but a central tenet of conservatism is eschewing ideology.
