Stupid People

I defy you to read this article by the Toronto Star's Royson James and to still have the slightest sympathy for disgraced soon-to-be-ex-Mayor Rob Ford over his conflict-of-interest loss.

On Aug. 25, 2010, council approved Leiper’s recommendations that Ford must reimburse the lobbyists’ $3,150.
In opposing the move, Ford made a critical error.
When Speaker Sandra Bussin called for the vote she specifically reminded Ford he had a conflict of interest in that the matter involved a financial benefit to him. Ford ignored her and voted.
“Having ignored my warning, there was nothing more I could do,” Bussin said in an affidavit filed in the conflict of interest case.
...
While Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, Ford’s attack dog, publicly excoriated the report, some councillors were working behind the scenes to resolve the matter. (Ironically, Mammoliti was the first ally to jump ship and resign from Ford’s executive committee Monday, the day the court ordered Ford removed from office.)
Councillor Anthony Perruzza, a left-winger not on Ford’s team, says he approached Ford’s staff on the night of the council vote last February with a face-saving motion. Perruzza would move that Ford be forgiven the repayment if he conceded he’d done wrong and not debate the issue.
Meanwhile, Councillor Michael Thompson, a Ford ally, was in the mayor’s ear.
“I told him, ‘Don’t speak on the matter,’” Thompson recalled Wednesday. “And just before the vote, I said, ‘Just step outside for a minute, don’t vote.’”
But Ford did speak, influencing his colleagues. Before the Perruzza motion was crafted the debate was cut short, and Ford voted with the majority in a 22-12 decision to rescind the previous council decision and free him from repaying the $3,150.
“People now say, ‘Why didn’t you guys warn him?’ Well, we did,” said Thompson.

It occurs to me that the old elites who used to self-identify as "Conservative" used to appeal to traditions and hierarchies to make the ordinary people whose votes they relied on to govern. As the strength of those traditions eroded, these elites have resorted to indulging the pretensions and stupidities of the sort of people who would continue to believe in discredited ideals. Rob Ford quite naturally inserted himself into this process, as did Mike Harris, as do John Baird, Tony Clement, Vic Toews, etc., etc., (Hudak).

As with the "Tea Party" movement in the USA, this whole policy of pandering to the Archie Bunkers of the world isn't going so well. These are the last gasps of a social order that is increasingly anachronistic.