Sympathy is for hypocrites (like Matt Yglesias)

As you’ve no doubt heard, Matt Yglesias recently bought a townhouse. I know! Important news! He also paid a tidy sum for it, which means that he’s required, by the laws of this great nation Twitter, to disavow everything he’s ever written about progressive politics. As a property owner, he can’t espouse liberal beliefs any longer because he’s a property owner. That makes perfect sense if, as those on the right believe, all politics are personal. Because Yglesias can only be a hypocrite for purchasing an expensive home in a buyer’s market if you believe that class sympathies can only be extended to people in the same class as the sympathizer.

And if you believe that, as many conservatives do, you’ve sacrificed the very concept of principled belief to the satisfaction of playing “gotcha” politics. Which is all well and good so long as you don’t want people to believe you’re capable of understanding — much less possessing — principled beliefs.