David Brooks misses again

In his most recent column on Social Security reform proposals, David Brooks likens the Democrats to"alienated junior professors. No productive ideas. No sense of leadership. Just half-truths from the peanut gallery." I've already sent my letter of protest to the Times, on behalf of junior faculty everywhere. The rest of the column is talking points, discussion of which really doesn't belong here.

[10 May Update: Soltan thinks I'm pussyfooting. Here's the text of my letter (since the Times has apparently demured), so you can judge for yourself:

David Brooks (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/opinion/08brooks.html) likens the Democrats who haven't unthinkingly endorsed the bare outlines of President Bush's Social Security proposals to"alienated junior professors. No productive ideas. No sense of leadership. Just half-truths from the peanut gallery." On behalf of junior faculty everywhere, I protest: untenured faculty are forced to be leaders and highly productive teachers and scholars in their search for tenure. It is faculty with tenure -- our senior colleagues -- who have the freedom to resist change without fear of reprisal. Don't get me wrong: tenure is a fine status to which I aspire, and academic freedom is a precious thing, but it can be abused. Incumbency is more or less the same thing as tenure in American politics: non-partisan districting would be a good start to reforming that, just as some form of post-tenure review might break some of the logjams in higher education.

"Alienated", though Soltan apparently takes solace in her alienation, is just Brooks' fancy way of saying"Ivory Tower" without actually saying it, and the rest of it is pure libel.]