"I know you'll carry me, but Lord just let me be, I'll rest here a minute if the Lord will allow..."
So I was the quintessential grad student today, with a backpack laden with 15 library books, four notebooks and a music folder. I felt ridiculous, and yet motivated- I got two outlines for two separate papers done.
I had lunch with the former Minister of Equal Opportunity of France yesterday. Yep, crazy, huh. I was pleased to hear his views on the world in general, although he resigned from power because he hates Sarkozy, with good cause. It was part of the College of Social Science Broad Lecture series, which always has a luncheon with select students before the actual lecture, and WAP always sends some of our members. Anyway, the conversation was mostly about the state of the world, which left us pretty much somber, though the Minister had a typical French sense of humor, despite his Algerian birth.
Anyway, one of the many things the group of us discussed was the education system, and Dr. Hargraves, the leader of the Winthrop-King Center for French and Francophone Studies brought up such a good point. He pointed out that one of the things that is most wrong about America is our candidates for office and they way they are elected. Not in a bureaucratic sense, but in a fundamental, appealing to the crowd sense.
Our politicians try to act like the guy next door, who is just like the common American. But the thing is, the common American could not run a country- it takes a man with higher intellect, with the ability to build off of those scholars and leaders who have come before him. So today and yesterday, I was reading some books by Jefferson, and I realized that there is a reason the early leaders of this country were so successful. They were the intellectual elite.
We vote people into power that are of lesser intelligence than us and then we blame them for making dumb decisions. An elite group of people SHOULD be in power, is my conclusion.
A meritocracy is the only way to go, but it should be made sure that it is not dominated by those with money, but by those with brains.
It's a radical idea, and yea, against a democracy in some sense, but it is still a very true idea. Why are we not lead by the best people in the world?
I had lunch with the former Minister of Equal Opportunity of France yesterday. Yep, crazy, huh. I was pleased to hear his views on the world in general, although he resigned from power because he hates Sarkozy, with good cause. It was part of the College of Social Science Broad Lecture series, which always has a luncheon with select students before the actual lecture, and WAP always sends some of our members. Anyway, the conversation was mostly about the state of the world, which left us pretty much somber, though the Minister had a typical French sense of humor, despite his Algerian birth.
Anyway, one of the many things the group of us discussed was the education system, and Dr. Hargraves, the leader of the Winthrop-King Center for French and Francophone Studies brought up such a good point. He pointed out that one of the things that is most wrong about America is our candidates for office and they way they are elected. Not in a bureaucratic sense, but in a fundamental, appealing to the crowd sense.
Our politicians try to act like the guy next door, who is just like the common American. But the thing is, the common American could not run a country- it takes a man with higher intellect, with the ability to build off of those scholars and leaders who have come before him. So today and yesterday, I was reading some books by Jefferson, and I realized that there is a reason the early leaders of this country were so successful. They were the intellectual elite.
We vote people into power that are of lesser intelligence than us and then we blame them for making dumb decisions. An elite group of people SHOULD be in power, is my conclusion.
A meritocracy is the only way to go, but it should be made sure that it is not dominated by those with money, but by those with brains.
It's a radical idea, and yea, against a democracy in some sense, but it is still a very true idea. Why are we not lead by the best people in the world?