The Death of the Republican Intellectual
One of the biggest and most perplexing sea changes in American politics over the last 30 years has been the death of the Republican intellectual. At one time the South was a traditionally Democratic stronghold. At that time Republicans were exemplified by the Bush family - rich, intelligent, and successful ivy league educated businessmen. But gradually things changed. Nixon rolled out the Southern strategy. A California rancher became President. The Bush family moved to Texas and started wearing bigger hats. Rove started wooing the southern baptists he secretly looked down upon. The party that wanted to keep their small government out of your private life started caring an awful lot about which God you worshiped and whether you mentioned him in your science classes. Republican operatives started using the phrase reality-based community perjoratively and without irony. The Union of Concerned Scientists started making public statements about scientific and intellectual integrity. Libertarian think-tanks like Cato started breaking ranks. Retired generals started speaking out against Rumsfeld, Bush, and the Pentagon. Andrew Sullivan was one of the first canaries to expire in the coal mine - a well-educated intellectual who (like me) switched from supporting George Bush in 2000 to Kerry in 2004. These days the "ivory towers of academia" are filled with liberals as much because Republicans have become so anti-intellectual and anti-academic as for any inherent bias. ("Fine", they said, "we'll just make our own universities.")
The Republicans' war on intelligence seems to be coming to a head this election season. Bill Buckley's son has sold out his father. Chris Hitchens is out, too. Sarah Palin has been publicly denounced by David Brooks and privately by Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy. (now with subtitles) All 2008 Nobel scientists are endorsing Obama. The Nobel Committee seems to be subtly thumbing their nose at Bush and the Republicans by giving Paul Krugman the Economics prize after giving the Peace Prize to Gore and the IPCCD in 2007 and the IAEA in 2005. My good friend John was a libertarian/anarchist in high school and his dad was a Navy pilot who flew with McCain. John is voting libertarian this year but he still supports Obama over McCain. Even McCain himself is starting to back away warily from the beast he helped create.
First they came for the war protestors, but I thought it was important to support our troops so I said nothing. Then they came for the Muslims, but I saw a scary guy on TV so I said nothing. Then they came for the persistently vegetative medical patients, but I'm still in good health so I said nothing. Then they came for the married homosexuals, but I'm married to a lady so I said nothing. Then they came for the civil libertarians, but I thought "I have nothing to hide" so I said nothing. Then they came for the biologists and climatologists, but I thought that the scientific consensus on evolution and climate change wasn't quite strong enough so I said nothing. Then they came for the elitists, but I've only got a master's degree from a state school so I said nothing. And that's why this year it's just me and a bunch of GED-educated pentecostal luddite homophobes holding "Sarah Palin 2012" signs.
If I was partisan I'd be laughing about the neocons getting their just desserts, but I'm not. Democracy thrives in the marketplace of ideas. It benefits no one - even Democrats in the long run - to have a political landscape where one party is so cravenly anti-intellectual, anti-humanist, and anti-reality. The enforced myopia of a two-party system is bad enough without one of those parties being led by President Camacho.
In 2004 when the Democratic party was too timid about speaking out against everything from xenophobic fearmongering to legalized torture I hoped that they would grow a pair. In 2008 I hope that the Republican party will grow a brain. I hope that they get learn to stop alienating not just a significant portion of their electorate but those people who actually gave them some street cred in the educated, literate, reality-based community.
The Republicans' war on intelligence seems to be coming to a head this election season. Bill Buckley's son has sold out his father. Chris Hitchens is out, too. Sarah Palin has been publicly denounced by David Brooks and privately by Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy. (now with subtitles) All 2008 Nobel scientists are endorsing Obama. The Nobel Committee seems to be subtly thumbing their nose at Bush and the Republicans by giving Paul Krugman the Economics prize after giving the Peace Prize to Gore and the IPCCD in 2007 and the IAEA in 2005. My good friend John was a libertarian/anarchist in high school and his dad was a Navy pilot who flew with McCain. John is voting libertarian this year but he still supports Obama over McCain. Even McCain himself is starting to back away warily from the beast he helped create.
First they came for the war protestors, but I thought it was important to support our troops so I said nothing. Then they came for the Muslims, but I saw a scary guy on TV so I said nothing. Then they came for the persistently vegetative medical patients, but I'm still in good health so I said nothing. Then they came for the married homosexuals, but I'm married to a lady so I said nothing. Then they came for the civil libertarians, but I thought "I have nothing to hide" so I said nothing. Then they came for the biologists and climatologists, but I thought that the scientific consensus on evolution and climate change wasn't quite strong enough so I said nothing. Then they came for the elitists, but I've only got a master's degree from a state school so I said nothing. And that's why this year it's just me and a bunch of GED-educated pentecostal luddite homophobes holding "Sarah Palin 2012" signs.
If I was partisan I'd be laughing about the neocons getting their just desserts, but I'm not. Democracy thrives in the marketplace of ideas. It benefits no one - even Democrats in the long run - to have a political landscape where one party is so cravenly anti-intellectual, anti-humanist, and anti-reality. The enforced myopia of a two-party system is bad enough without one of those parties being led by President Camacho.
In 2004 when the Democratic party was too timid about speaking out against everything from xenophobic fearmongering to legalized torture I hoped that they would grow a pair. In 2008 I hope that the Republican party will grow a brain. I hope that they get learn to stop alienating not just a significant portion of their electorate but those people who actually gave them some street cred in the educated, literate, reality-based community.