The Politics of Stupid

By Zachry Brown JGSM '10

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Posted: 12/1/09

When did stupid become a qualification for politics? Nothing irks me more than hearing folks express their admiration for a political leader based on his or her identification with Joe Six Pack. Like the average American, Joe is an average guy proffering his average viewpoints on foreign policy, the economy, global warming, etc. The stupidity test requires politicians to praise, promote, and promulgate Joe's agenda-and never mind the fact that half of all Americans are below average intelligence. (Confused? Better stop reading.)

But wait, if you had severe chest pain, you would go to a cardiologist, right? After a decade of medical school and training, the cardiologist would appear more equipped to diagnose and treat your chest pain than ole' Joe. Not that Joe's a bad guy-he's just not a medical expert. Well, American foreign and domestic policy are a lot more complicated, and have a lot more consequence, than your chest pain. Why should we expect anything less than the best from our Nation's leaders? Why should we not want the smartest, most accomplished persons to occupy the ranks of America's highest offices?

"You betcha" Sarah Palin-who attended five colleges in six years before managing to graduate-exemplifies the politics of stupid. Fittingly, she coined the Joe Six Pack phrase during last year's campaign. With the release of Going Rogue, Palin has monopolized the airwaves, chastising the Obama Administration for ignoring the views and values of "real" Americans.

What peeves me is not her ideological disagreement with the Obama Administration; it's that she justifies her disagreement by pointing to the dissent of her average Joe supporters. For example, the Democrats' healthcare plan has galvanized legitimate debate among supporters and critics. Palin's beef with the plan, however, is that real (i.e., uninformed and stupid) Americans disagree with it, which, according to Palin, evidences the plan's failings. God bless conservative columnists Peggy Noonan and Kathleen Parker for calling Palin out for the idiot she is.

Although stupid falls on both sides of the aisle, Republicans have embraced it like a lost child at the zoo who just found his mother. Like Palin, Republican leaders discredit Democratic proposals by leveraging the opposition of the masses-using opposition in and of itself as proof of misguidedness.

Of course, I'm oversimplifying-there are really two camps in the modern Republican Party. On the one hand are the Joe Six Packs, Birthers, militia members, and Rapture enthusiasts. They attend New Life Church and believe in a farce named Glenn Beck (factoid: Glenn Beck does not have a college degree). On the other hand are the libertarian intellectuals. These limited-government folks have forged an ugly alliance with the Joes in order to challenge the dominance of Washington spendthrifts. They may think Joe Six Pack's an idiot, but they'll hold their collective nose to keep the Democrats out of power. (I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but what better way to marginalize the role of government than to stack it with Palins and Joe Six Pack lackeys? I digress.)

Call me a snob, but I would rather be governed by Ivy Tower intellectuals than "the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory." I respect intelligence and reasoning, not ideology and lemmings. Seriously, stop and think for a second: can you imagine Sarah Palin in charge of our nuclear launch codes?