Elite used to be a compliment. It basically referred to the best of anything. For example, Drew Brees is now considered one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL. However, nowadays that might be considered an insult instead of a compliment - at least in political circles. The worst insult you can hurl at a politician is to call him or her a member of the "Washington elite". What??? It's an insult to be called one of the best? Count me as someone who doesn't get it.
Why do we no longer want the best? We talk about how education is the answer to practically everything - and then we turn around and bash our most educated citizens. Elite conservative columnist David Brooks, who writes for the elite New York Times, recently discussed the bias against the educated members of our society.
"Every single idea associated with the educated class has grown more unpopular. . . The educated class believes in global warming, so public skepticism about global warming is on the rise. The educated class supports abortion rights, so public opinion is shifting against them. The educated class supports gun control, so opposition to gun control is mounting. . . The educated class is internationalist, so isolationist sentiment is now at an all-time high. . . The educated class believes in multilateral action, so the number of Americans who believe we should “go our own way” has risen sharply."
Why is this happening? Why do we not want our leaders to be educated and the best? This is a very dangerous trend. Think what could happen if our governmental leadership is mediocre and uneducated. Do we really want a average somebody with a high school education testing drugs for safety, constructing bridges on our interstate highways, leading our troops into battle, deciding when to use nuclear weapons, etc.?
We don't have this attitude in decisions we make for ourselves and our families. We want the very best doctors for our loved ones, educated teachers for our children, trained electricians to work on our houses, etc. Why do we want mediocre, uneducated people running our country? I can assure you that no other major country is like that. How can America remain the leader of the world if we're the only one with undereducated leaders? The answer of course is that we won't.
Stand up and demand that our elected officials be elite.
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2 comments:
Because "elite" doesn't mean "the best", and never did. A Kennedy joins the "elite" just by being born.
It doesn't imply a better ability to rule and is anathema to the concept of democracy where each person should have equal access to power.
David Brooks is hardly a conservative as any well-known conservative will tell you.
Why does this guy think that liberal beliefs are born of better (elitist) educated leftist? Where does that come from? And has this idiot actually surveyed the entire Tea Party movement to get their education level??? NO, he has not. If anything, he's showing his true colors and is a prime example of elitist thinking by only assuming that the Tea Pary movement is somehow beneath liberal thought. That, David Brooks, is the very attitude that people are sick of.
If he knew any trends at all, he'd know that there's been an increasing trend of anti-abortion thought over the last decade, gun rights have always been favored by the majority and people are turning against the global warming hype because of the recent scientific fraud and outright lies that have been recently uncovered. What a joke. What an elitist!
It's not education or wit that makes you an elitist, it's the attitude you take towards the everyday human that makes you one. Sneering and mocking people for having beliefs opposite yours makes one an elitist. It's what democrats do best (Maddow, Olberman, Letterman) because debate is not one of their strong points. Why debate when you can simply belittle someone. Uh, Sarah Palin comes to mind.
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