Ezra Klein o bserves:
I'm not really sure what's being discussed at this AEI forum, but it's sort of awesome to host an event on "The Forgotten Man: A New Look at the Great Depression" and follow it up with a wine and cheese reception.
(HT: Bra d Delong) Like Ezra, I have no idea what the AEI is up to with this forum. Unlike Ezra (and I guess Brad), however, I see this mainly as a sad commentary on the role of wine in American class warfare. Unlike Mediterranean cultures, in which wine, bread, and olive oil were the historic tripod on which society survived, in the USA wine has been seen as the drink of effete elites. Yet, as Thomas Jefferson famously observed, "No nation is drunken where wine is cheap, and none sober where the dearness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage." Apropos of the AEI forum, moreover, we can trace the modern academic symposium to Greek wine-drinking parties. Yet, in the modern USA, having a reception at which wine is served is an appropriate target for class warfare. I suppose Ezra and Brad would prefer a workman-like beer and pretzels, but it wouldn't be my first choice. Or, I suspect, the first choice of either Jefferson or Plato.
