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Article Source: The Smirking ChimpI am old enough to remember the days when what Americans were told to fear most was "Creeping Communism."
There were even hearings. There was a blacklist. There were arrests and even a couple of executions.
In the end all communism turned out to be creeping towards was its own extinction.
We may not be a lucky with the new creep we're facing today: Creeping Ignorance.
For the nation that has, for a couple of centuries, been not only a beacon of freedom, but also a beacon of knowledge and science, Creeping Ignorance at the heart of our government threatens to turn us into a nation only Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter, et al, could love; one big festival of stupidity.
#1 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 8:16 AM EDTI've only sat down and had a conversation with one Senator. I found him to be charming and intelligent. Many politicians are very good at being politicians.
From the article:
The Right, which hated and feared commies and their (largely imaginary) infiltration into government, not only don't seem to care about creeping ignorance in government, but have come to embrace this new breed of government infiltrators.
The ignorance issue isn't limited to senators, but extends vastly beyond to the people who elect them.
It seems the Right revels in ignorance and encourages its supporters to remain steadfastly stupid but ever more ardently emotional in holding on to their mistaken beliefs.
Rational thought from the Right? Ha! And yes, that is painting with a wide brush, but look at what we currently have as examples of this. Even some Republicans are admitting to buyers' remorse.
I've only sat down and had a conversation with one Senator. I found him to be charming and intelligent. Many politicians are very good at being politicians.
Concur. When I was in college, got to interview Senator Richard Shelby, and found that most of his answers were long-winded non-answers. Think politicians learn that art quickly.
Exactly! I was going to add '... but vacuous' to BV's list of Senatorial characteristics. Although - I have to admit - I've found the Senators that I've known to be head and shoulders above the Representatives I've known.
very few politicans are going to give straight answers. however I must be smarter than my senators and politicans. I pay my taxes, I own my business, I don't employ illegals and I can tell when a politicans are lieing. I can look at the president's budget and tell when there are lies in the budget deficit and I can look at proposed bills and tell when CBOs estimate is grossly underestismated. So I must be smarter, since I have common sense which most of our senators don't have.
Well, I have met a couple of state senators in California who were very intelligent. Of course, one of them was one of the Chicago Seven, Tom Hayden. Brilliant man. But here, in red Georgia, these men (and they are always men here) are dumb as posts. ANd as for our representatives, no matter what I express my opinion on, Gringrey sends me a letter telling me how he was a wonderful OB/GYN for 28 years and that's why he is against abortion (oh, yeah, and a Christian, too). And no one runs against this man. Granted, you have to have at least the ability to memorize the parts of the body, but I see no overwhelming intelligence, or knowledge of history outside of this twisted southern concept of every thing having stopped at the War of Northern Aggression). Losers!
Are You Smarter Than Your Senators?
If you are an accountant who believes in a balanced budget....yes
If you believe in entitlement programs.....no(equal to or less than)
If you believe that Govt is the source of jobs ...no
If you believe that Govt can create incentives for companies to hire people such as tax breaks, which creates more profits, jobs, and more tax payers and taxes paid.
If you thnk the destruction of capitalism is good....no
If you preach hate against people based o race religion or economic staus, or use people for political purposes, to create and maintain stereotypes...no
Beckyal
You're so smart. Why don't you use spell checker. lie?
One cannot be learned on all subjects in the world. I think many in congress just depend on special interest lobbyists to educate them. Maybe they should rely on intellectuals at universities more.
If you are a member of either party and you believe you can govern without compromise, then you are an ignoramus. Ignorance has no party affiliation.
When I was in college, got to interview Senator Richard Shelby, and found that most of his answers were long-winded non-answers. Think politicians learn that art quickly.
Did he answer your question to your satisfaction?
Get Foxworthy and his 5th graders and see if all officials get their low IQs shoved where the sun don't shine.
an ignorant electorate is an easily fooled electorate. hence, the attacks on widely accepted science theory and historical revisionism. politicians know that much of what they say is crap, but they also realize that it is what some of us want to hear.
#2 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 9:00 AM EDTIt has been my experience in politics that the person who is elected, usually, is elected not because he is smarter, but that he/she is more electable in terms of personna. This person has the ability to speak to crowds so that they listen. Hence, "he is electable" comes into play. Some people are and some people aren't.
It's called...."play to the boys in the balcony"!
#4 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 9:14 AM EDTWhy does the Left always accuse the Right of being ignorant? Are you all a bunch of elitist snobs? Ivy league educated or trying desperately to fit in as such. You leftist loons need to get off your high horses and work for a living, or at least get a life. That is where you may learn something, not in the ivory tower.
#5 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 9:39 AM EDT"...get off your high horses and work for a living, or at least get a life."
Good advice from the guy blogging away on Newsvine at 9:40 in the morning.
Good advice from the guy blogging away on Newsvine at 9:40 in the morning.
Clearly the left backed, NEA run, public education system has failed to teach you about 'time zones'...
Nope - it's not as clear as it appears to you - they taught me about time zones. I can't fault the school system, I simply forgot about them. The oversight is entirely my own. Do you know in which time zone andrew resides?
Why does the Left always accuse the Right of being ignorant?
Look at what the Right elects and/or chooses for leadership. Quod erat demonstrandum
"...get off your high horses and work for a living, or at least get a life."
Good advice from the guy blogging away on Newsvine at 9:40 in the morning.
according to the left...the time of day in which you submit an idea determines the value of an idea. Or is it that at 9:40 in the morning the alcohol or dope has not worn off for lefty and they cannot think...either lefty at 9;40 am is in a hurry to go get his Govt check...because lefty is not smart enough to know that taking a govt check is bankrupting America...lefty just thinks there is ooodles and ooodles of money and that the wealthy can pay for it all ...hence the Jan 20th 2009 debt...10,626,877,048,913.08 and now Wednesday 23 March 2011 14,224,998,096,211.71. 4 trillion in 2 years. Compare that to the wrongful spending of George Bush which totaled over 8 years 5 trillion
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/NPGateway
quid pro quo
You leftist loons need to get off your high horses and work for a living, or at least get a life. That is where you may learn something, not in the ivory tower.
We'll start doing that as soon as you rightwing nutjobs start using your brains for something other than scheming your next greedy power grab at the expense of people that actually care about out things other than money.
#7 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 9:48 AM EDTYou leftist loons need to get off your high horses and work for a living, or at least get a life. That is where you may learn something, not in the ivory tower.
That i haeful speech...should have said...You leftistloons need to consult an accountant before you spend money on govt social programs. Just like the Russians bankrupted themselves, taking the socialist high road trying to compete with capitalism, no matter what lefty does the bank acccount numbers wont lie.
I'm smarter than Joe Liebermann. My other Senator, Richard Blumenthal, is a wonderful legal mind and smart about that, but I can't determine if I might be smarter than he.
In general, however, I can say that the greater the degree of authoritariansim in the Senator, the more stupid they must be. That's due to the stupifying influence of authoritarianism. Now, I can't say in general if stupid came before authoritarianism, or if the authoriarianism led the way. They go together, however, like most chickens and eggs.
#8 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 9:51 AM EDTThis article's name is misleading. It should be - "Come here and listen to me bash Republicans". Nothing to see here - just more of the sme. moving right along.
#10 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 10:05 AM EDTI've spoken with Carl Levin, and found him to be a bumbling buffoon.
#11 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 10:22 AM EDTOK, you want to play this game, let's go!
First, this is a strawman argument. The author only presumes Republicans as less intelligent, and not Democrats. That alone negates the entire article.
#12 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 10:22 AM EDT"The author only presumes Republicans as less intelligent, and not Democrats ..."
Perhaps, but one cannot tell what the author presumes by reading the article. The author does not tell us what he thinks of Democrats. In fact, he doesn't even mention them. Perhaps he thinks that they, too, are ignorant and has saved his treatment of them for a follow-up article. Notice that the author (as reproduced in PiK's first comment) says that "... our government threatens to turn us ..." (italics mine), and not "... the Republicans in our government threaten to turn us ...".
The author only presumes Republicans as less intelligent, and not Democrats. That alone negates the entire article.
Not if it's true.
Depends on your definition of "smart." I'm certainly not clever enough to weave all the non-answers our senators and representatives give us, nor am I smart enough to convince anyone to believe something that is not true.
#13 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:00 PM EDTCongressmen seem to be like farts... in that your own your own don't seem as smelly.
With their carefully gerrymandered districts and historic 95% reelection rate, there is little need for Congress to change themselves or the country.
As the executive branch has increased in power and shucked off its traditional checks and balances, there has been less and less for Congress to do.... so they've replaced politics with political theater.
When Congress wants to do something, say, rubber stamp a war or bail out their campaign contributors, they move together as a seamless legislative body with nary an opposing voice.
When they don't want to do something, say, cut spending or reform government, they divide into "two parties" and blame each other for not doing it....with divisive and highly partisan rhetoric.
They get together in back rooms and discuss who is going to vote how. There are very few Americans sufficiently cynical to understand Congress.
...which is why we have the Congress we have.
#14 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:05 PM EDTI would think that the very fact I am not a senator would answer that question.
But ignorant politicians, I do not think so. Privy to information that we are all blithely unaware of? Of a certainty. Being ignorant and feigning ignorance until you are ready to spring you're new agenda to screw the American people are two very different things.
#15 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:14 PM EDTI know I am smarter in somethings. And they are smarter in other things. I am sure they know more about politics than I do but we all start somewhere.
#16 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 2:47 PM EDTAccording to the last IQ test I took, I could clean most of their clocks in that area, I am not sure about the "smart" part though. Those guys have the job because they were smart enough in some area to get it in the first place. A lot of them seem smart enough to keep the job. Whether or not I think I could do a better job than most of them? Yeah probably, Like Henry Ford said " I might not know how to do something, but I can always hire somebody that does."--- That thought has me wondering about the people that Mr. O has surrounded himself with and just who is giving him advice---or orders as the case may be.
#17 - Fri Mar 25, 2011 3:10 PM EDTI know I'd clean most of their clocks as well, and my IQ numbers are probably a bit less than when I was tested in the 50s, having lost brain cells in the 60s and just aging...
The thing that is different about politicians is that they are mostly lizard-brained; and I can wipe the floor with them on that data alone.
All these "qualified" and harvard "educated" people in the government, and they have run this country into the damn ground. How about electing some normal non politicians to get us out of it. The so called under-educated as we are. Probably better than what we have now. Both the political parties who's only existence is to bicker among each other and only take your own side just because of you party.. You should be ashamed and removed from office. Its was supposed to be a govt. for the people! Please people take this country back before it is to late. Take our industry back from China, who actually owns us economically, and take our energy back from the middle east by refining our own oil and underselling OPEC in the world market..we need to be the U.S. 50 years ago.. Proud strong and economically independent!
#19 - Sat Mar 26, 2011 3:35 AM EDTHow about electing some normal non politicians to get us out of it. The so called under-educated as we are.
We don't have the money or the backers to run.
I think whether or not Congress is intelligent is not the right issue.
Could you look directly into a camera and not blink too tellingly, and say that your party can't cut spending because of the other party? Could you rail against homosexuality to "get your base out" and then go home to your houseboy?
I mean with a straight face. That's the essential skill of a Congressman.... I guess intelligence wouldn't hurt... but it's hardly a requirement.
#20 - Thu Mar 31, 2011 10:56 AM EDTThe condition of the country and the economic situation would seem to bear that out.
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