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Conservative Affirmative Action
I believe that people should be judged on their abilities alone. I admire people of all persuasions who do well at their chosen path. Mostly I am talking about people's ability to do a job well. Be they in business, be they a bureaucrat, be they a lawyer, doctor, or architect, be they warriors, be they athlete, artist, writer, scientist, teacher, or politician (well not many of those). I don't wish to sound too high-flying here because there are many economists, activists, socialist, and progressives whom I don't respect though they may be considered to be doing well what they do. I don't like them for what they do. To avoid being criticized by the nit-pickers for minor chinks in my broad statement, no I don't like dictators, criminals, and crazy fundamentalists, Et cetera.
In other words I believe in meritocracy, the kind of thing that de Tocqueville admired about America, one of the things that has contributed to our greatness as a people. I don't care for people who are proponents of mediocrity at almost any level of our society. Or those that get ahead by political pull, or nepotism, or criteria other than competency. Or those who discriminate against other because of their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual preference, physical disability, thus not giving people who may be competent a chance to demonstrate what they can do.
This article isn’t about Dancing With The Stars or Bristol Palin. It’s about meritocracy, the conservative movement, and Sarah Palin. I don't watch this show, but I have to start with Bristol.
It is with regret that I must disapprove of Rush Limbaugh on his glee at the support Bristol Palin received by the phone-in audience which resulted in a superior dancer, Brandy, being kicked off "Dancing With The Stars." His glee related to his belief that the callers were mostly conservative Sarah Palin supporters and "Tea Party activists" and that "liberals" and "Progressives" were outraged by this turn of events. He believes that the majority of Americans are supporters of Mrs. Palin and anything they can do to irritate liberals and the "drive-by-media" is a good thing.
While it is difficult to disagree with the irritating liberals part, I believe he does a disservice to the conservative cause. Bristol Palin is clearly a mediocre dancer and Brandy was clearly a fine dancer. This is not about Mr. Limbaugh, whom I respect, it's about people supporting mediocrity for ideological reasons. It's not right. It is a kind of conservative affirmative action whereby people of lesser abilities are given support and credence though they are clearly unqualified.
I believe Mrs. Palin is a mediocre politician and generally uniformed and ignorant of the reasons behind the ideals she espouses, but that she gets paid a lot of money to say them as the Mama Grizzly to her fans. Many of my readers were unhappy with my recent criticism of Mrs. Palin. I've lost a few readers but actually have gained quite a few more as a result. Now that I am being critical of Mr. Limbaugh as well, I suppose I'll lose some readers and gain even more. Whatever.
I think my real point is that if we conservatives and libertarians are willing to accept mediocre leaders and politicians, then we will lose ground to the left and yield the field to the Obama Regressives. We do need charismatic, articulate, intelligent, and informed leaders. I believe Mrs. Palin gives us charisma and she reads speeches well, but she is avoiding tough interviews. She has demonstrated that she is mediocre, uninformed, and cannot well articulate or argue the issues underlying complex ideals which guided our Founders.
By setting the bar too low, and opening our arms to Mrs. Palin we will get what we deserve. I think even George W. Bush is more competent than Mrs. Palin, and he trashed the Republican Party and turned into to a movement of conservative Christian social values instead of traditional Republican values.
I believe such affirmative action shows that we are failing to live up to ideals that made this country great, which is to support people of merit and ability who support, understand, and can be effective advocates of our ideas of freedom, free market capitalism, individualism, and tolerance. I intensely dislike Mr. Obama's politics, economics, and general world view. But the guy is bright and articulate and can think on his feet, even if his world view is entirely wrong for America. He is persuasive, but he falls on his ideas. I am not suggesting we support losers like Jimmy Carter, John Kerry, Al Gore or Michael Dukakis. But I think we need the whole package. I believe we need to demand higher standards of our politicians and not settle for mediocrity.
Mrs. Palin said yesterday in unequivocal language that she is a candidate for the presidency. Personally I don't think she is serious. I believe it may be a tactic to keep her in front of the Republican Party, appear to be a power in the Party, and to enhance her status and appeal as a saleswoman for herself. Selling herself to America is something she does very well (see, "Sarah Palin's America") and you will see what I mean. I enjoyed the series and found her to be likeable, but that doesn't mean I would want her finger on the trigger or on the economy as my president.
But, in the off-chance that she would see it through to mounting a serious campaign for the presidency, then I believe that would be a big mistake for America's right wing to fall in behind her. Folks, we can do better than that. Demand excellence.
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I tend to equate competence with non-electability.
Gotta go now - truely, its great being able to talk even for just a few moments with fellow travelers on the road to whereever the hell we are all going. Blessings upon you and yours.
Adios, Amigo.......keep it coming.
Never confuse competence with electability. We elected a retard and a simpleton 2 years ago.
My fellow countrymen did that. I'm embarassed for my country...and not for the first time.
I was embarrassed for my country when I read your post.
Say Howard, hows .....
Ah fuck it. This is too sad. I'll just take the path of least effort and junk you.
I feel disgust, particularly when I see how our fellow citizen welcome the police state with open legs. I'm disgusted at how many people think the TSA porno-scanners and gropefests are perfectly acceptable.
I would willingly accept an anti-bankster, anti-fraudster police state, if that's what it takes to bring down our criminal elites.
I would support a "Regime of Correction", led by say a President Patrick Buchanan, with Ron Paul at Treasury, William Black as Attorney General (he was the regulator that sent 1500 S&L criminals to jail), "Sheriff Joe" Arpaio at DHS, Tom Tancredo at ICE, and so forth.
And as for TSA, get rid of them. Instead, have armed police do all of the screening. I can remember before TSA at the Orange County airport security was handled by the Orange County Sheriff's Dept., who were quick, intimidating, and thorough.
That's why they were replaced with rent-a-cops because too many folks complained about "intimidation". So, you know what? No more TSA ("Thousands Standing Around") and instead the U.S. Marshals Service will do the job.
If you ever have to enter a federal building or a federal courthouse, you'll find an entry security regime that is as intimidating and intrusive as that at any airport - particularly here in Vegas, because we had a fatal shootout at the courthouse a few months back.
I'd rather have a real dictatorship than a faux "democracy.
LOL, that's like asking for an honest criminal! Its the criminal elites that are creating the police state! Why don't we just skip the 'faux democracy', the real dictatorship, and become the free people we were once upon a time?
Never confuse competence with electability. We elected a retard and a simpleton 2 years ago.
My fellow countrymen did that. I'm embarassed for my country...and not for the first time.
So, McCain / Palin would have been better? Folks keep forgetting the alternative.
In the long run the electorate do, indeed, select the lesser of the two evils offered.
Wrong.
We elected a Retard and Simpleton in 2000 and re-elected him in 2004, because the Dems put up an arrogant wimp as a candidate in 2000 and an arrogant poseur of a silver-spooned elitist in 2004.
While I agree that Palin is both a mediocre intellect and completely bereft of any discernibly coherent political philosophy, she's absolutely no different in this regard than the prior occupant of the White House.
Unfortunately for Republicans, Mr. Obama is neither ignorant nor a simpleton - he is both highly intelligent and well-educated. But, he suffers from the fatal delusion that all intellectuals suffer from, whether they be of either the left or the right, that if only the electorate could grasp the "sheer academic brilliance of our policies", that all would be well. And there's the problem.
Two of our worst failures as President - Jimmy Carter and Herbert Hoover - were accomplished intellectuals but utter failures as leaders. Obama seems to combine the intellectual self-righteousness of Carter with the leadership skills of Hoover. On the other hand, our two greatest 20th-century successes as President, FDR and Reagan, were non-intellectual men of action who possessed the self-confidence and inner strength to override "established intellectual opinion" anytime it suited their needs.
A national leader who, upon taking office last year had declared martial law and national emergency, arrested and detained banksters and hedgies by the scores of thousands, arbitrarily jailed scores of politicians, and let the multinational CEOS know that "you're next" would have had the whole country behind him, regardless of the hardships that might have followed.
Now, we the people are going to have to do that job ourselves. I don't give us much hope.
Cynic derives from the Greek for Cynos, the dog who served Archon, the boatman on the river Styx, whose job was to lick up all the puke and shit left behind on the river bank by each panicked boatload of lost souls his master ferried across the river into hell. Choose being a skeptic over being a cynic every time unless you love the taste of puke and shit.
Charon, not Archon.
The River Styx (Greek: Στ?ξ, Stux, also meaning "hate" and "detestation") (adjectival form: Stygian (pronounced /?st?d?i.?n/) was a river in Greek mythology which formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld (often called Hades which is also the name of this domain's ruler). It circles the Underworld nine times. The rivers Styx, Phlegethon, Acheron, and Cocytus all converge at the center of the underworld on a great marsh. The other important rivers of the underworld are Lethe and Eridanos, and Alpheus. The ferryman was called Charon."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx
Cerberus, the only dog mentioned regarding Styx.
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/cerberus.html
Cynos, meaning dog.
Both dogs and cats were held in high esteem in ancient Egypt; the city Cynopolis took its name from cynos, meaning dog. The law required its citizens to provide for all their stray dogs, and they even went as far as going to war with a neighboring city when one of their dogs was eaten.
Where you get your mythology info from, bud?
Well, I tend to hold myself to the modern defintion of cynic, which is a person who thinks selfishness motivates most human actions. But, I also take it to the next, modern level, which is a person who expresses bitter, cynical attitudes. That is just me. I am, also, a skeptic:)
If I were a Republican (NOT) then I would vote for neither of the above if I could. In Australia, where you have to pay a fine if you don't vote, there is always a 'none of the above' option on the ballot and if 30% ( I think) vote for that option then the whole things has to be run again. That, my friends, is democracy. God bless Oz.
I agree...a vote for "none" should count as more than non-participation.
Someone could change their name to "none of the above" and get on the ballot, they might win.
off topic - I registered on a site once as "unregistered", caused no end of hilarity 'till the admin changed it.
And what is it with all the junks? A dimmer site readership than I had presumed.
Bill
Don't know who is doing that. Someone bored and just pressing buttons, I think.
ZeroHedge should have a sliding scale, like a rheostat of sorts, on whether the comment was agreed to or not. Keep the junk for overt sexual nonsense, racist or bigoted attacks and spam.
That reminds me, wonder where Mr. liberal sodomy is?
He should be in on this junkathon.
He's probably still in Church services...
Synagogue.....
If that someone is Intelligent enough to figure that out, then they're most likely Intelligent enough to be a leader as well! :>D
Here we go again; this never-ending left/right bullshit, captured mind-warp, fucked up bipolar politics.
When are you ass holes going to get over this GOP is best/ the dems are best, nah nah nee nah nah he said/ she said crap. You wouldn't know your constitution nor the philosophy supporting it ,if somebody shoved it up your ass and lit a fire under it.
This democracy shit is driving you all to want to dominate the other.
It's about the constitution, retards. One group of non-partisan guardians of a constitution that enshrines the sanctity of individualism, free of government coercion into his everyday mundane existence. You know, representative, constitutional government. That is, a group of citizens representing the clauses of the constitution as writ, that the rights of FREE MEN. The constitution is about minimising government intrusion into your private lives. All that you fucking dimwitted, drum beating, argumentative, bastard retards want to do is dominate other by voting into power someone who will advance your fucked up ideas about Liberty and what's good for me or someone else. What is good for me is MY concern.
I thought zero hedge was a place where we went beyond this shit. Fuck all of you dickheads. Grow up. Read the constitution and stop wrapping your politics up in the flag and behind your fucking religion or ideology. Ism idelogues, you fucking piss me off.
Dancing with the stars! Fuck me!
Right...the Constitution. The "heroes" that created that kept slaves, and created a system where women could not vote...only landowners, and a system that had an Electoral College that kept the elite in charge. Screw that.
Get over it. I thought this was 2010 not the 1800s. Far out! Disingenuous crap.
I thought it was too, but you are the fucking idiot who wants us all to live by a flawed document created by racist elitests. Go cut your fucking wrists and bleed out in your own disengenuous haze of non-reality. Fuck you.
Why cut our wrists?
Far better and far easier to cut yours.
Once again.
Far out!
Disingenuous crap.
It wouldn't matter if Jesus Christ himself, came down and handed you a document spelling out the natural axioms of Liberty. You'd still screw up your nose and claim that fucking dimwit Sarah Palin, or the latest Messiah Barak Obama, had a better idea than his and they had a plan to save you. In fact you would vote for either of them as long as their white-toothed smile and oratory glibness, convinced your feeble mind that they were the one. You know the one, that extraordinary saviour who will deliver you into the fields of Shangri la, with fields of milk and honey. (At someones else's expense, of course). SHHHHHEEEiiit.
Here's the typical politician's theme song. You just sing along.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYGCpGzFWh0
The sad thing about your reply is, you don't even recognize that your retort to my post is more of the same of what I was bitching about. What makes their behavior worse than yours is that they wrote the damn document and yet didn't deliver it to the people. Close but no cigar.
If you want freedom from tyranny, you have to demand it, live Liberty, and take responsibility for your own life and leave others to theirs. That means dismantling the divisive, antagonistic and adversarial style of government. It's all there, as writ.
Awesome. Right on the money.
Keep givin' 'em hell, Papaw!
:D
Huh?
DP.
As expected, my suspicions confirmed.
Dear friend - I also must disagree. Worthy opponents recognize each others competence regardless of differences in viewpoint. I agree that competence is not universally recognized - but one competent person always recognizes another. Competence trumps doctrine. That's why 'politics makes strange bedfellows'. I am also in despair when it comes to seeing the path, which is why I ultimately belong to the school of kill them all (including me) and let god (note the lower case) sort them out. May the algae inherit the earth. But then I'm 70 years old - I might feel differently if I were 20 - and I am so grateful that I am not.
Well, my friend, I left twenty about 33 years ago. I agree that you disagree, but I also must point out that I have a very cynical view of politics....I find, in my life, their existence is only there to give me an opportunity to write harsh, sorta funny things about public servants. I do, however, have a problem understanding how mutually recognized competence trumps party lines when it comes to legislative action...unless, of course, the happy coincidence buys votes. Being 70, you must have learned something about life....keep sharing it.
Could not get Joe Miller elected even vs. a write in!! Palin is useless in politics..but a splendid whore...junk away my friends!
That's why life is so difficult - the obvious is never easy to achieve. Competence is self-evident, but only to those who are also competent. As for electable - I think we can forget that option. So I agree with you Aristarchan - but what now? Let's all just go dancing with the stars?
I guess maybe we should dance with the stars. I'll be fucked if I can figure out any other way to get ahead in life. Sarah palin has her own show (which is, BTW, hugely popular), Bristol is on DWTS.....Todd is exhausting dogs in sled races, and all their kids call their parents by their first name. Look...I think Sarah Palin is a pretty normal, Alaska hillbilly. I dont hate her, but I dont think she probably should run this country. But, I would ask you...in a Republican primary ( if you are Republican) would you vote for her, or Newt Gringich? The answer (I hope) is neither. But, where does that get us along the road of electing competence?
You could always nominate "Chauncy Gardener." (How about John Galt, then?)
Politics by its very nature is a POPULARITY contest, otherwise to get our wishes fulfilled, it would be Competics!
I must disagree with you that competence is self evident to others who are also competent....that is why we have political parties and different ways of seeing things. Nobody is ever seen as competent to all. It unfortunately, does not work that way. Spirit....I simply do not know where we go from here. We are stuck with a system that is designed to elect wealthy averages.
First, define competence, then make competence electable....not easy, my friend.
Sure - you want a suggestion. How about Tyler for president. And Marla for speaker of the house. And Sacrilege for director of the CIA. Never happen? Isn't that the real problem? Remember the theme of the article - competence over mediocrity. How do we make this happen?
Therein lies the problem with an article like this....first you have to find a candidate that is competent (to a large majority of people....i.e., who you or I think is competent might come off as a total idiot to someone else).....get them nominated on a major party, then get them the money to run nationwide, and get them elected, then make sure the Congress and the Senate is also competent. How the hell does that happen?
IMO, what would help us move foreward would be if the average american:
1)set the big mac down
2)shut off the teevee
3)pulled head out of nearest cavitus rectus
And did what?
It's very hard to believe that people here on ZH are actually giving people like Palin any consideration for office at all. My god - the women is an imbecile. I don't care what your politics are - the point of the article is - don't choose mediocrity in any form. Judging by the number of scatalogical commentaries here I would guess that most Pailn 'supporters' are really fantasizing about what her breasts look like up close and personal. My suggestion is to go find a trannie look-alike ( the jaw, the hands, the dull glazed eyes - any street corner will do). Really people - is this how we are going to change the future for the better? Has it all come down to tits and ass? if so, may the nukes begin to fall.
The fellow who hauls water up where I live voted for Palin/McLame. I asked him why and he said he didn't give a damn about McSame but Palin has nice legs. Kept a straight face while saying it.
Maybe there is something to be said for a poll tax.
Bingo!
The mere fact that this bimbo is given consideration by anyone with a pulse to head the largest economy and most powerful military on Earth is cause to reconsider the concept of universal suffrage. The Greeks were wonderful, but they forgot that by definition half of any electorate is of below average intelligence. The founding fathers of America knew this, and decided their own screening method for voter qualification, biased as it was toward their fellow elites.
Nowadays we have adopted the policy of No Voter Left Behind, nice in theory but dangerous in practice. In my mind, the mere existence of weapons that can end all life on the planet demands that society make a tough choice about what the limits of democracy should be. One does not give matches to a small child; perhaps people who cannot prove they possess a certain threshold of intellectual competence should not be allowed to vote. I am willing to bet large that the average IQ of Palin supporters is at least one SD below the human average. (Anyone reading this who disagrees AND is a Palin supporter should Google the term Downing Effect, then look in a mirror to see an example of it.) An intellectual means test would save our country and our species from having this sorry excuse for a leader in charge of anything more significant than a Seven Eleven or have control over anything more dangerous than a fingernail file. Palin couldn't point out the Earth while standing on the surface of the moon, even if she was being coached by Buzz Aldrin. She'd think the Lincoln Bedroom was named after an automobile and that it is just an amazing coincidence that our first President shared the name of our nation's capital.