Not wanting to be outdone, both the SDP and WP double-down on the dough and rendered cow fat. The Worker’s Party’s

online material

makes frequent references to ‘bread-and-butter’, and so does Chee Soon Juan’s party. Once lambasted as out-of-touch for its concern with human rights, the

SDP’s website now insists

that his party cares just as much about ‘bread-and-butter’ as they do about Singapore’s lack of democracy.

“So it is untrue to say that SDP does not bring up ‘Kitchen Table’ issues,” laments the website.

The implication behind these meaning-free messages is clear. I—Tin Pei Ling/Chee Soon Juan/Lee Bee Wah/Nigel Farage—care all about the real issues faced by average citizens like you. More importantly, I am not like Tin Pei Ling/Chee Soon Juan/Lee Bee Wah/Nigel Farage. I am not one of those out-of-touch brioche-and-marmalade politicians. They have their heads lost in the parliamentary clouds. On the other hand, I know what’s really important to you—whoever you are.

At its core, it is not unlike American politicians eating corn-dogs at the Iowa state fair. No matter who you are or what you’ve done, virtue must be performed to avoid accusations of ‘uncaring elitism’.