"You'll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." That quote is attributed to many people, most often P.T. Barnum. And it's seemingly becoming truer and truer in America all the time.
I personally am not confident that the public at large is very smart. This is proven to me daily in traffic, where the number of cars on the road increases the stupidity of the drivers exponentially. But I think this perception is less about actual intelligence than it is about critical thinking skills, logical thought and a huge amount of "give a damn" being missing. The sad thing, though is the way this is exploited by politicians.
I read somewhere yesterday that Republicans think Democrats are wrong, and Democrats think Republicans are stupid. I'd like to re-frame that. In my mind, Republicans think Democrats are evil, and Democrats think Republicans are sheep. Take for example the large choruses of boos at the mention that Barack Obama would "spread the wealth." He was saying this in front of a large blue collar, cash-strapped crowd!
Now, I don't believe for a second that Obama is a socialist or communist. Reversing George W. Bush's tax cuts (cuts John McCain was initially against) doesn't make you a commie. But how has the right-wing convinced their base that tax cuts for rich people is in their interest? These people routinely cheer for industry, corporations, Wall Street, even Big Oil ("drill baby, drill!"). They seem to have convinced their base that they will one day strike it rich. They've planted the "I could win the lottery one day" dream in their heads, or it would seem so. And the Republican policies will benefit them the day the are rolling in dough. Whatever.
It's a shame that the "American dream" has morphed from becoming a middle-class home owner (think Happy Days' Howard Cunningham) to a desperate wish of winning PowerBall. And it is deeply cynical of a political party to play into this and other unrealistic notions for votes. How can the powers that be actually respect their voters when they play them for fools?
The best example of that would be "Joe the Plumber." First, his name isn't Joe. He's not an actual plumber. He isn't really buying his boss' company. The company doesn't make as much as Joe (Samuel) said it did. And Barack Obama's tax plan would actually leave ol' not-Joe better off than McCain's would. And worst of all, for putting Obama on the spot on the subject of taxes, Joe has actually been in trouble for not paying his taxes. Sheesh.
In any other world, this would spell an immediate dismissal of any reference to "Joe the Plumber" in the future. He's an almost total fraud, and the point he was trying to make was completely ass backwards. And yet, in Republican circles, he's become a working class hero, a symbol of--what, I don't know exactly. He's become McCain's endgame, with a whole new cast of characters like--who knows--Susie the Stripper and Charlie the Chicken Plucker.
In this scenario, McCain is counting on the image of Joe to hold sway over his--hopefully for him--gullible or stupid supporters, and not pay attention to the facts. And for a certain number of them, it is working. Because, I kid you not, Joe is talking about running for Congress.
[Excerpt]
Dumber And Dumber With Joe The Plumber
Bursting on the scene in a blaze of lies seems to be the GOP style this year. First Sarah Palin, now Joe The Plumber. And we do mean bursting on the scene, as Joe's now talking about running for Congress, according to CNN's Politicalticker blog. . .
Read more at: Open Left
I personally am not confident that the public at large is very smart. This is proven to me daily in traffic, where the number of cars on the road increases the stupidity of the drivers exponentially. But I think this perception is less about actual intelligence than it is about critical thinking skills, logical thought and a huge amount of "give a damn" being missing. The sad thing, though is the way this is exploited by politicians.
I read somewhere yesterday that Republicans think Democrats are wrong, and Democrats think Republicans are stupid. I'd like to re-frame that. In my mind, Republicans think Democrats are evil, and Democrats think Republicans are sheep. Take for example the large choruses of boos at the mention that Barack Obama would "spread the wealth." He was saying this in front of a large blue collar, cash-strapped crowd!
Now, I don't believe for a second that Obama is a socialist or communist. Reversing George W. Bush's tax cuts (cuts John McCain was initially against) doesn't make you a commie. But how has the right-wing convinced their base that tax cuts for rich people is in their interest? These people routinely cheer for industry, corporations, Wall Street, even Big Oil ("drill baby, drill!"). They seem to have convinced their base that they will one day strike it rich. They've planted the "I could win the lottery one day" dream in their heads, or it would seem so. And the Republican policies will benefit them the day the are rolling in dough. Whatever.
It's a shame that the "American dream" has morphed from becoming a middle-class home owner (think Happy Days' Howard Cunningham) to a desperate wish of winning PowerBall. And it is deeply cynical of a political party to play into this and other unrealistic notions for votes. How can the powers that be actually respect their voters when they play them for fools?
The best example of that would be "Joe the Plumber." First, his name isn't Joe. He's not an actual plumber. He isn't really buying his boss' company. The company doesn't make as much as Joe (Samuel) said it did. And Barack Obama's tax plan would actually leave ol' not-Joe better off than McCain's would. And worst of all, for putting Obama on the spot on the subject of taxes, Joe has actually been in trouble for not paying his taxes. Sheesh.
In any other world, this would spell an immediate dismissal of any reference to "Joe the Plumber" in the future. He's an almost total fraud, and the point he was trying to make was completely ass backwards. And yet, in Republican circles, he's become a working class hero, a symbol of--what, I don't know exactly. He's become McCain's endgame, with a whole new cast of characters like--who knows--Susie the Stripper and Charlie the Chicken Plucker.
In this scenario, McCain is counting on the image of Joe to hold sway over his--hopefully for him--gullible or stupid supporters, and not pay attention to the facts. And for a certain number of them, it is working. Because, I kid you not, Joe is talking about running for Congress.
[Excerpt]
Dumber And Dumber With Joe The Plumber
Bursting on the scene in a blaze of lies seems to be the GOP style this year. First Sarah Palin, now Joe The Plumber. And we do mean bursting on the scene, as Joe's now talking about running for Congress, according to CNN's Politicalticker blog. . .
Read more at: Open Left
Of course your not stupid, your really kind.
ReplyDeleteYou like to make the rest of us feel really clever.