Education, Intelligence, and Elitism

When I wrote a column discussing the lack of education found in conservative commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck, and compared it with the educational accomplishments of liberal news people, the letters poured in calling me an “elitist.” I also contrasted the low educational achievements of Bush Administration officials with the extraordinary accomplishments of President Obama and his team. This seemed to outrage the right-wing people who responded to my column by saying that we would be far better-off in Washington with less educated people.

It seems that there is a kind of class hatred by conservatives toward liberals and toward the generally higher level of liberals’ education. Conservatives feel that they are looked down upon by more intellectual liberals. It is not unlike the deep resentment felt by lower class people toward wealthy and sophisticated people. That kind of resentment has fueled violent revolutions.

I probably am an elitist. I believe that when it comes to news commentators, the truth is more likely to be heard from highly educated people than from uneducated people. I believe that the best people to run a government are the most highly educated and intelligent people. I simply cannot understand people’s claim that we need uneducated people running this country. When G. Harrold Carswell was nominated by President Nixon to the Supreme Court, Democrats charged that he was a mediocre judge. In defense, Senator Hruska of Nebraska said: "Even if he is mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance.” I don’t know if he was kidding or not.

The last thing you want on the Supreme Court is a mediocre judge. The most important attribute of any Supreme Court justice must be intelligence. If I am an elitist because I want my Supreme Court justices to be highly educated intellectuals, so be it. The same applies to the President and his Administration. I want the very brightest people running the country. If this is discrimination against not-so-bright people, so be it. I realize that highly educated people can make major mistakes. A good example would be the list of mistakes involving Viet Nam described in "The Best and The Brightest" by David Halberstam. I realize that all governments make mistakes, but I want those decisions being made by educated and intelligent people, not dunderheads.

I am firmly convinced that there is a wide gap in education and intelligence between liberals and conservatives. This is proven not only by the difference between liberal and conservative media commentators and the difference between liberal and conservative governmental officials, but also by the people one meets everyday. I realize that many poor minority people can be considered liberal, and that many of them do not have extensive education, but when I speak of liberals and conservatives, I am speaking of the middle and upper-class people of all races who do not suffer from the obstacles that confront the poor people.

My thesis is proven by the letters to the editor opposing my columns. It is surprising that people writing to the editor are willing to have such illiterate letters published for all the public to see. The letters are not only substantively stupid, but are filled with grammatical and spelling errors. In some cases it is almost as if the writer was a secret liberal trying to make conservative letter-writers look foolish.

One recent letter writer, who was incensed that I dared to criticize the far right-wing organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, started a sentence, “The vitrol language you have used…” The remainder of his letter is long, ungrammatical, and unintelligible. His other letters are equally dumb. Another letter-writer penned the following brilliant remark about me: “It’s not hard to see nor read he truly doesn’t know what he is talking about nor does he speak for Americans.” The same writer recently wrote, and repeated, that President Barack Obama is a “Muslin.” I suggested to the editor of the paper that perhaps we should call President Obama the “Commander in sheets.”

I also notice that even the letters that are not illiterate show a high degree of stupidity. It is as if such writers did not actually read my column and are responding to some other commentary. I wrote a column carefully examining why some female voters who had supported Hillary Clinton refused to vote for Barack Obama, and suggested that some, not all, might be doing so because of racism. One writer complained that I was painting all people who switched from Clinton to John McCain as racists. In my column I had gone out of my way to say the opposite. In another column I expressed concern that vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin had once called the head librarian in town to inquire about censoring some books. I was careful to note that no books were actually removed. Nevertheless, one writer complained that I had accused Palin of book-burning. This kind of thing has happened repeatedly.

I recently wrote a column describing the stupidity of ultra right-wing organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. I did so hoping to draw some Klan sympathizers out of the woodwork. One of my frequent critics took the bait and wrote a letter to the editor in which he accused me of “defiling” myself. I assume that, unless he is a secret liberal trying to make conservatives look like idiots, he is a Klan or militia sympathizer. He has now walked into my trap and exposed his true beliefs for everybody to see.

I have noticed that southwest Ohio is heavily populated by far right-wing types. I assume that somehow, large numbers of Southern rednecks came up from the South and settled in this area. These are the least educated Americans. They are the most conservative, and in many cases, their conservatism spills over into extremism. When I use the term “redneck,” they complain because they identify with that term. They are proud to be gun-toting, rebel-flag-waving, Klan sympathizing, bigoted, uneducated, ignorant, repulsive rednecks. They know that they can never be intellectuals, so they wallow in their own ignorance.