prosaic

" ask yourself: how has "elitism" become a bad word in american politics? there is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. we want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. and yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. when it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth�in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn't seem too intelligent or well educated. "

this was written with special emphasis on palin, but i think it fits across the board. see bush over gore and kerry. regardless of which person one voted for or which candidate one preferred, it would be a blatant lie (or stupidity) to say that bush was smarter than the two he ran against.

however, this little textual spew is sadly inaccurate, and not full of the best examples. we may say that we want the elite when it is convenient, but we don't seem to care much about actually finding, training, funding, or requiring those people. if we wanted elite pilots, we wouldn't over work them. if we wanted elite troops we wouldn't be constantly lowering the standards for acceptance. elite athletes? really? couldn't come up with a better example? if we wanted elite scientists we wouldn't give preferential treatment to american scientists, and we would fund research other than defense.

if we really wanted the elite, we would force teachers to be qualified. we might cut spending altogether and shift most defense spending to other areas where it can be used appropriately.

this system is not set up for the best to succeed, i.e. aristocracy, but rather to benefit those that have, i.e. plutocracy. the sooner one grasps this, the sooner one will understand reality and may then either resign oneself or seek to change the system.

so while i agree with the sentiment of the author of the article, from which the above clip is taken, it is misguided. furthermore it should be no surprise that stupid people want a regular schlep in office. misery loves company.