Lefties think they're on the side of the masses. They're wrong

[Valin]

The Telegraph :

 

Daniel Hannan

12/21/12

 

At the Oxford Union the other day, I was comprehensively outperformed by this man: Dr Cornel West. If you’ve heard him live, you’ll know that he speaks in the manner of a charismatic preacher, and that the timbre of his voice captivates almost any audience. The motion was This House would occupy Wall Street. He won.

 

For a while, I sat there in the manner of Harold Abrahams after he loses to Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire. But then, like Abrahams, I picked myself up and started trying to improve my performance.

 

In private, Dr West is the gentlest and most courteous of men. In public, he is moved by righteous anger. The reason he won – the reason Occupy types generally win before student audiences – is that he successfully presented himself as a defender of ordinary people against oligarchs. This is how most Lefties think of themselves, and I don’t doubt their sincerity. The curious thing, though, is that their policies, in effect if not intention, end up privileging vested interests over the general population.

(Snip)