"There are different kinds of truths for different kinds of people. There are truths appropriate for children; truths that are appropriate for students; truths that are appropriate for educated adults; and truths that are appropriate for highly educated adults, and the notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy. It doesn't work."
Irving Kristol (a leading neo-conservative thinker)
Can we all agree that government is both complicated and very important?
Navigating the ship of state toward a peaceful and prosperous future requires an understanding of the shifting currents of competing interests, a talent for nuanced negotiation, sensitivity to the particular demands of bloated egos, an ability to seduce and/or strong-arm the press ... and all this while keeping a steady eye on the moral compass that keeps you from running aground on shoals of personal corruption and megalomania.
What can be more important than decisions that impact millions of jobs, save or close massive banking systems, reconfigure a nation's medical and/or energy systems, launch missiles into foreign capitals and wars with unknowable consequences, imprison thousands, invest billions or trillions of dollars wisely or fraudulently?
Next to government, brain surgery might look one-dimensional and trivial.
So why do so many Americans think that government is a job for "regular folks?" Many political analysts attributed George Bush's margin of victory over both Gore and Kerry to his "regular guy" quality. People said he seemed like the sort of guy they'd like to have a beer with. This "average American" quality was seen as one of Ronald Reagan's primary political strenghts, too. Now the world is being drenched in Sarah Palin and her folksy wisdom, such as it is.
But would anyone want the likes of Reagan, Bush, or Palin performing brain surgery on their child? If not, why in the world would anyone want them in government?
It seems to me that there's a fundamental misunderstanding at the heart of neo-conservative politics: representative government means that one's interests should be represented in Washington, not one's lifestyle, educational level, or drinking partner preference. Heaven help us when Joe the Plumber becomes Joe the Defense Secretary. Think I'm joking? Consider the utterly unqualified Alberto the Attorney General or Clarence the Supreme Court Justice.
I say there's a "misunderstanding," but the confusion is only on one side of the equation, with the voters. The people in power on the right understand very well that Reagan, Bush, Palin, and the other "regular folks" they use to attract voters are just the packaging they use to get people to swallow bitter policies they might otherwise reject. They wrap tax cuts for country-club yachtsmen in down-home brush-clearing imagery the way you might wrap a bitter pill in red meat so your dog will swallow it before he tastes anything strange.
Sarah Palin is simply not a viable political leader. The fact that this doesn't disqualify her from political power is cause for alarm.
