You must have the day off, Steve: *two* missives this morning, with 22 minutes remaining before lunch!
;-} But I digress: what you were referring to below, indirectly, was educational level. I was talking about intelligence, or rather the abundant lack of it in our population. A small, but significant distinction. --Doug On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 11:32 AM, Steve Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Doug/Owen - > > This one fits my personal experience "pattern" of "Shocked but not > Surprised". > > In 00, I was not shocked or surprised that the pendulum swung back from the > liberals to the conservatives. It was time, or near time. > > Perhaps if Bill had managed to keep his pecadillios more well-hidden, or > if his detractors were not so vicious about them, or if Al had not claimed > to invent the Internet, or if Ralph had graciously pulled out of the race > after proving that a significant number of voters want some other choice > than red or blue, we could have had another 4-8 years of a liberal > administration. I won't even begin to speculate about whether there would > have been a (successful) attack on 9/11 or whether such would have lead to > war, etc... I'll save that for the alternate-history novel I'm (not) > writing. > > The bottom line is that it wasn't that much of a shock or surprise that the > self-rightous right could stir up enough self-rightousness in the moral > majority to get to the voting booths and vote in their favorite son. I > knew he was the village idiot when he first started running but I thought he > would be a lot more harmless than he turned out to be. I thought (to > extend the parabolic reference) that as a village, we could raise that > idiot. What I failed to appreciate (my bad, in spades) was the depth of > (e)vileness in his handlers, in the puppet-masters. > > 04 *DID* shock (but not so much surprise) me. I thought that at least 10% > of the Right would at least stay home from the polls in shame and at least > 2% of the Left who failed to vote in 00 would wake up and smell the urine > and vote and the 10% "third party types" would put aside some of their > ideals long enough to dump the village idiot out of his cart. And while I > do believe there was some voting misconduct that might have swayed 00 and 04 > enough to make the difference, it doesn't (as Owen notes) account for the > difference between the vote and my impression of the likely vote. > > I grew up among rednecks and in many was still am one myself, so I do have > sympathy with many of the points of view that the Red States (the rural > western ones anyway) hold. I feel I have outgrown/transcended a lot of > them, but still appreciate how people working with their hands, close to the > land (now known as the "extractive industries") could resent the people > sitting in a big city at Starbucks sipping triple-mocha, caramel latte's > with an umbrella on top their blind comfort and relative wealth. > > It took me most of the 80's and 90's to come to appreciate how *extractive* > and *exploitative* virtually all natural resource extraction (mining, > lumber, energy, fishing, even agriculture) and packaging (factories) and > delivery (commercial transportation, service industries) has been. Most > folks living/working by those industries still can't see it, and the rest of > us (knowledge workers, etc.) rarely acknowledge that we *want* someone to > bring us all our goodies and we are happy to turn a blind eye to how all > that was done, and then smugly resent those who did the work (from > latin-american immigrants to the US working poor) to grow the food, mine the > ore, cut the trees and those who processed it into what we see > (factory/smelter/sawmill/food-processing) workers and those who bring it to > us (truckers, etc.) and those who sell/serve it to us (minimum wage slaves > with limited education/opportunities). > > So it doesn't surprise me that there are a *lot* of under-educated people > with a limited view of their own plight who could be snookered by one > faction of the elite into believing their best interests were served by > keeping *that* faction of the elite in power. I've seen another faction of > the elite hoodwink approximately the same people with promises of elevation > and get elected on that themselves. > > I happen to have a lot more sympathies (today) with the > kinder-gentler/more-progressive approach of the Left than with the Right > (they have been such dismal losers this past 8 years, amazing anyone can > stick with them at all) but I don't think the "battle" is a simple one. > > I for one, look forward to the impending "changing of the guard" and even > (especially) want to see the incumbent party spanked silly in the election, > but as soon as that is over, I look forward to an equally strong grass-roots > movement to hold the incoming party (in the executive) to a truly rightous > and progressive set of actions and policies. I know it is human nature to > "take advantage" and that "power corrupts" so I am looking for > populist/grassroots checks and balances to the power of our political and > financial and corporate behemoths, not depending on them to keep eachother > in check. > > I'll be watching TV (or at least Jon Stewart on the Internet) on Tuesday, > with breath all abated, hoping for a good spanking for the Republicans. If > it comes out as strong as I hope, I'll drink a little Champagne and start > lobbying everyone I know to put down the Champagne and pick up their tools > and get to work. We've got a big hole to dig out of... several really. I > hope we don't expect our new president to magically lift us up out of it > without some hard work and maybe more than a little personal sacrifice. > > my $.02 (.00001/per word?) > - Steve > > Owen, > > Why in the world does this surprise you? I would like to suggest that the > more intelligent of you on this list (we all know who we think we are) > consider the concept of "average intelligence". Cogitate on the following: > > > 1. The average IQ in the US is around 90. > 2. The distribution has medium fat tails. > 3. Bush was elected into office twice. > > --Doug > > - > Doug Roberts, RTI International > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 505-455-7333 - Office > 505-670-8195 - Cell > > On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 10:53 AM, Owen Densmore <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > >> Just as in the earlier elections with George Bush, I'm astonished at how >> close the race is, not just who is winning. >> >> When Bush won, it was really hard to believe: he's clearly incapable. The >> Dems on the other hand, chose a poor candidate in the 04 race, so that could >> be part of it. And he did steal the race, but he could only do so because >> the separation was so small. >> >> But given the obvious failure of the Bush administration, why in hell is >> this race so close? Obama will likely win, but I simply cannot understand >> why 45% or so really think McCain is better! >> >> Its easy to shrug, and say most people are idiots. Maybe. But up close >> and personal, you find this isn't true. So what is the "ghost in the >> works"? >> >> -- Owen >> >> >>
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