Blue Splitsville?

Our liberal friends are quick to detect splits in Republican ranks, particularly between the kind of Republican they like--the moderate, compromising kind--and the kind they don't--the social conservative kind.

Now Walter Russell Mead has unearthed a split in the Democratic ranks.  It has arisen in a police corruption case in New York City.  The folks at The New York Times are shocked, shocked that police out in the Bronx have been fixing tickets, and worse.  They were even more shocked when police, prompted by their union, demonstrated outside the courthouse where the accused ticket-fixers were being tried.

But here is the kicker.  Across the street from the courthouse was a welfare office, and the welfare recipients jeered at the cops: "Fix our tickets!" they cried.  Not to be outdone, the cops returned the compliment. "EBT! EBT! EBT!" they chanted.  "EBT," for you innocents, is the way that food stamps and the like are distributed electronically these days.

The fact is, Mead tells us, the folks in the Democratic coalition don't like each other.  The cops hate the welfare cheats, especially the way that they are not allowed to really police the poor, and the welfare chappettes obviously have hated police brutality since the invention of urban police forces.  The relation between the public service workers and the goo-goo liberals is interesting.  You might say that the liberals fill the pockets of the public union workers with cash to shut their mouths.  Scratch a policeman, a teacher, a welfare worker, a health worker, and you'll hear war stories of the scum they are paid to baby sit.  You need good money to put up with that and not actually do anything about it but just sit there saying "yes, sir, no, sir" to your liberal masters, never knowing what crazy twist they will introduce into the care of the poor next week.

One underappreciated component in the Democratic coalition is Wall Street.  The Wall Street guys are the middle-men that provide the cash for the welfare state in the form of bonded indebtedness.  Every public official needs a good relationship with his banker, and vice versa.  So it's a bit shocking that the young libs in the Occupy movement are blaming Wall Street.

Of course, there's a reason for that.  The young skulls full of mush actually believe the line that their liberal daddies give them about evil Republican fat cats on Wall Street.  They are too dumb to realize that all the bankers are Democrats.

Still, it's important to realize that all these people that hate each other, and are united only in their pursuit of money--taxpayers money.  That is why Democrats talk about nothing but revenue increases.

Unfortunately the money has run out, and so the folks in the Democratic coalition won't be getting the full amount they have in mind in the future.  There is every prospect that they will start to fight amongst themselves over the diminishing spoils.

No need to discourage that.