new jordans 2012 Nutmeg’s Zooniverse
I’ll put the entire article under a cut, but I’m going to post one brief section in public, because I think it’s so key:
Ask yourself: how has “elitism” become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions,new jordans 2012, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth��in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn’t seem too intelligent or well educated.
Please don’t be put off by the title of the article, which I think is asinine. And please read it carefully, because I know some of you are in the “agree to disagree” camp politically. He’s not denigrating religion or trying to deprive Sarah Palin of her right to worship in any way she chooses, but he’s rightly questioning both her tendency to define political positions in terms of “God’s plan” in a country that mandates the separation of church and state, and whether her particular religious beliefs and fervor argue against her ability to do the particular job in question: VP, and potentially the job of President.
Yes,new jordans 2012, he has a point of view to sell, and he’s not above the occasional descent into bad taste, but his arguments are sound, and I have yet to hear – from anyone or in any venue – a rebuttal that relies on logic rather than emotion and empathy.
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This election and the selection of our next President/Vice-President are crucial to the fate – at home and abroad – of this country in ways no other election and selection in my lifetime have been. (I’ll be 55 in March,jordan 12, in case you’re wondering just what that lifetime consists of.) There’s too much on the line for anyone, of any affiliation, to be a one-issue voter, to vote from the gut without at least letting the head think very carefully about what that would mean, or to base a decision on top-level soundbites, or personal identification with one candidate or the other. Palin’s a woman and Obama’s black,jordan 4, and I don’t think every black should vote for him any more than I think every woman should vote for her, though I’m sure there are some voters whose decisions will be based on precisely those criteria. (Which puts black women in an odd position and proves exactly why those criteria are stupid ones.)
Bottom line: Have a beer with anyone you want, but choose a President and Vice President who’ve both got the credentials and the gravitas and the temperament to do the job. I think a lot of the anti-elitism grows from fear and insecurity, and the sense that someone smarter and better-educated is going to pull the wool over our collective eyes. Well, you know what? I don’t want an administration with people just like me at the top, because I know damn well I’m not up to the job. I want the people whose fingers are on The Button to be better and smarter than I am – and I’m not afraid to say so.
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