Does anyone else really hate this election?

[WhyteRain]

Obama and Romney:  This is what we get when the cultural elite, the self-assured "Masters of the Universe", are equal parts arrogant and ignorant.

I wish for the day when Americans will be little impressed by an Ivy League resume or law school-trained oratory, but most of the commenters here leave me little hope that will change before it's "too late".

[WhyteRain]

I gotta say, too much doom and gloom here. 2008 was an extreme anomaly in this country and nobody should have expected it to become the new norm: An extremely competitive and landmark primary season, where the Democrats were fighting to nominate the first African American or female candidate, Sarah Palin breaking the glass ceiling for the GOP and being an extreme lightning rod, and ultimately the election of America's first president of color, all set under the backdrop of an epic and dire recession. No hollywood screen writer could have written it better.
 

Tribalism -- called by its proponents "Identity Politics".  It forces us to ask -- first and foremost -- "Does the candidate have enough melanin or enough X chromosomes or enough hair or too much fat around the ankles?"

Btw, Obama doesn't have a drop of African-American blood in his body.  Like everything else about him, even his "ethnicity" is pure construction.

[WhyteRain]

Obama and Romney:  This is what we get when the cultural elite, the self-assured "Masters of the Universe", are equal parts arrogant and ignorant.

I wish for the day when Americans will be little impressed by an Ivy League resume or law school-trained oratory, but most of the commenters here leave me little hope that will change before it's "too late".

Getting kind of personal aren't we?  

I'm not sure what you meant when you highlighted "or law school-trained oratory" and then made that comment.  I'm a law school grad -- and attended a top ten percent law school.  I also clerked for the Chief Justice of my state's Supreme Court.

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Do you have an anti-intellectual streak?[/quote]

Your question reminds me of something that happened in undergraduate school, in a class called "European Intellectual History".  The professor was a great one (so, naturally, he didn't get tenure), but one day in class -- a class of about 35 students -- he said "Americans are anti-intellectual".  I quickly shot back, "That's because intellectuals are anti-American".  He stopped, stunned, then after standing there thinking about it for a minute, admitted I was right.

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Do you mean the first year of law school?  Yes, that was hell -- like boot camp for the brain, I called it.  

I don't blame you for being proud of your sheepskins.  I'm proud of mine.  Btw, my twin sister's son graduated from Harvard Law last year, and so, no, it's not a "anti-Ivy League thing" per se.

[WhyteRain]

Obama and Romney:  This is what we get when the cultural elite, the self-assured "Masters of the Universe", are equal parts arrogant and ignorant.

I wish for the day when Americans will be little impressed by an Ivy League resume or law school-trained oratory, but most of the commenters here leave me little hope that will change before it's "too late".

Getting kind of personal aren't we?  

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Do you have an anti-intellectual streak? Just asking. I am darn proud of my degree my from the University of Chicago. I consider it the one of my great accomplishments in life. It was not easy. In fact, it was the most difficult thing I have ever done intellectually. The first year was hell - just hell. Granted, it is not "Ivy League," but whatever.

I'm guessing he does, but a lot of people do as well.

I don't confuse the terms "intellectual" and "intelligent".   Anyone can call himself "an intellectual" -- and most of those who do aren't every bright.  By almost any objective measure I'm an intellectual. People who glory in being "intellectuals" -- what they really are is "credentialed".  

How does "credentialed" differ from real "intelligence"?  A really intelligent person is humble -- not about his intelligence, but about the practical uses of his intelligence, because the more intelligent one really is, the more one realizes how little one knows.

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As I mentioned in my immediately prior comment, my nephew just graduated from Harvard Law School (after graduating number one in his class as an undergraduate at a major university).  But here's the thing:  I know my nephew.  I've known him since he was born.  And this year when we are all together at Thanksgiving, if you asked me to name the five smartest people in the room (I should mention I have a very large family), I don't know if he'd make the cut.  Why not?  Because he has a terrible record of predicting the future.  From what I have seen, the truest test of real intelligence is found in one's ability to predict future events.  (I don't want to spend a lot of time on this, but accurately predicting the future is "seeing the fourth dimension (time) not as points on a line, but as a line".)

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I'm sure that the people commonly called "intellectuals" have worked hard and are smart, as conventionally measured.  But let me ask you something that I've not asked anyone before:  Do you think the top 100 "smartest" people in America have, combined, more knowledge than the rest of the 314,000,000?  How about the top 1,000 "smartest"?  If we put them all together -- 1,000 now -- in a government, do they have more knowledge then the rest of Americans combined?

[WhyteRain]

What I particularly dislike is the argument that since the Congressional lawmaking process's byzantine structure and surplus of veto points make it unreasonable to expect more major change to take place within that process, the right thing to do is to enthusiastically support a party and president that devote all their energy to trying to change things within that same process and basically none to changing it.

Yes, exactly this. Great post.

What does the post mean in practical terms?

[WhyteRain]

Your question reminds me of something that happened in undergraduate school, in a class called "European Intellectual History".  The professor was a great one (so, naturally, he didn't get tenure), but one day in class -- a class of about 35 students -- he said "Americans are anti-intellectual".  I quickly shot back, "That's because intellectuals are anti-American".  He stopped, stunned, then after standing there thinking about it for a minute, admitted I was right.

The fish I caught the other day was twenty foot long.

So you're calling me a liar?  OK, that's ... deep thinking for you.

[WhyteRain]

No WhyteRain, the toughest year for me was my first year of undergraduate college. Law school was a piece of cake for me in general. My brain I guess is just suited to that sort of mental work or something. Business school I found ridiculously easy. There I got straight A's without breaking a sweat. In part that was because the intellectual caliber of the students was considerably lower in general, so there was less competition.

OK, interesting.  I never went to business school so I don't know about it.  Mrs. Rain did, and finished 8th out of 500-something. 

[WhyteRain]

What I particularly dislike is the argument that since the Congressional lawmaking process's byzantine structure and surplus of veto points make it unreasonable to expect more major change to take place within that process, the right thing to do is to enthusiastically support a party and president that devote all their energy to trying to change things within that same process and basically none to changing it.

Yes, exactly this. Great post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/07/17/harry-reid-promises-filibuster-reform-if-dems-win-the-election/

Ezra Klein is the ringleader of JournoList.  Why don't you cite some MSM 1%er with more credibility -- like Brian Ross?

As to the substance, this just shows how desperate is Harry Reid.  He never wanted to "reform" the filibuster.  He just helped kill reform of it a couple of years ago.  He's just claiming now that he wants to as part of his begging the voters to keep him as Senate Majority leader:  "It's never happened before -- in fact the current filibuster rules were written almost entirely by us Democrats** -- but really, this time, honest-Injun, Democrats are gonna reform!" 

There are probably a few sub-100 IQs who will believe him.

** See, e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster_in_the_United_States_Senate

[WhyteRain]

I've noted that the people most likely to have those "Question Authority" stickers on their bumpers are also the least likely to do it.

They're the kids who sat up in front of the classes and when the professor entered, straightened themselves in their chairs and smiled:

"We're all in our places with bright shining faces!"
"Tell us what we need for the test and we'll forget about the rest!"

To put it mildly, I wasn't among their number.

The same little turds are the ones most likely to disbelieve that anyone else ever did whatever they were too afraid to dare.

[WhyteRain]

I imagine Whyterain's fellow students all hated him afterwards for sucking up a minute of lecture time.

Feel better for saying that?

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But then you ask as single one.  Interesting.  Well, I suppose I will then.

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And what educational level would you put yourself on?

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Why are you confused?  I don't like flowery rhetoric that's used to mislead ordinary people.  

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What does this mean?  

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Do people who speak humbly but behave arrogantly think they are better than people who do the opposite?

[WhyteRain]

I've noted that the people most likely to have those "Question Authority" stickers on their bumpers are also the least likely to do it.

They're the kids who sat up in front of the classes and when the professor entered, straightened themselves in their chairs and smiled:

"We're all in our places with bright shining faces!"
"Tell us what we need for the test and we'll forget about the rest!"

To put it mildly, I wasn't among their number.

The same little turds are the ones most likely to disbelieve that anyone else ever did whatever they were too afraid to dare.

Boring old right-wing attack memes are boring and old.

No doubt though had those 'little turds' really questioned authority they would have ended up with the exact same opinions as one WhyteRain, arbiter of intellectual discourse everywhere. His wisdom is truly sensational.

Where have I tried to be an "arbiter of intellectual discourse" for anyone but myself?  (Perhaps sometimes an "arbiter of facts" but as they say, everyone's entitled to his own opinion but no one's entitled to his own facts.)

[WhyteRain]

I've noted that the people most likely to have those "Question Authority" stickers on their bumpers are also the least likely to do it.

They're the kids who sat up in front of the classes and when the professor entered, straightened themselves in their chairs and smiled:

"We're all in our places with bright shining faces!"
"Tell us what we need for the test and we'll forget about the rest!"

To put it mildly, I wasn't among their number.

The same little turds are the ones most likely to disbelieve that anyone else ever did whatever they were too afraid to dare.

Academic authority at the university level often concerns itself with questioning other types of authority, bro.

Really -- what kinds of questioning is it that academic authority is supposed to do?  (Not being an academician, I really don't know.  Hate to sound arrogant about it.)  And shouldn't outsiders be able to question academic authority?

[WhyteRain]

It's hilarious to see a Republican feign outrage over "elitism."

This is a good example of the lack of attentiveness and reasoning abilities that do tend to irritate me.  I can have no good response to this.