From: niepornt@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Marc Nieporent)
Subject: Re: A "New" Reich
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 08:48:31 GMT

In article <9211110009.AA14412@inet-gw-1.pa.dec.com> GCTHORNE@idbsu.idbsu.edu (Broward Horne) writes:
>In a previous article, barber@jazz.concert.net (Scott Barber) says:

>>Interesting, while there are certainly going to be disagreements
>>about policy orientations and various matters of style, I find it
>>difficult to understand how Clinton's qualifications could be
>>reasonably shunned.  We can all dally with ideas of putting a
>>quantum-physicist, plumber, CEO or small-business owner into the
>>White House, but realistically and practically, a Rhodes scholar
>>become Constitutional law professor to continually re-elected public
>>office holder seems pretty strong to me.

>     Yes, of course.  Exactly.  The common people are too
>     ignorant to lead, or decide thier own fate.  Only
>     a learned (ex) Rhodes scholar can do this.  Only a
>     lawyer.  The American people are too ignorant to
>     hold office and decide their own fates.

>     This thinking permeates our society.  Elitism.
>     You have only added one more nail to America's coffin for me
>     with this argument.

Um, this is the philosophy on which our country was founded.  Elitism.
It's good old "traditional American values."

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and all them.  They didn't want those
janitors running the country.  They knew what would happen.  That's why
they wanted a republic rather than a democracy.

>>I have been a supported of Clinton for a while, now, and I have
>>talked to a lot of Clinton supporters.  I can think of none of them
>>who think that Clinton will "save them."  Rather, they hope (as do I)
>>that there will be a more open attitude in Washington to a broader
>>range of voices than that which has prevailed for decades.

>      And in the same breath, " a broader range of voices "
>      even as we speak together of an elite government.

Taking into account what a lot of people think doesn't mean mindlessly
following them if they're stupid.

>>Think that if you want.  I have thought it often, and not because of
>>the party in the seats of power.  But America has never been alive
>>unless its people were toiling to make the democracy work.  Those of
>>who toll the death bells participate in the killing.

>     And lo, the Double-Speak, wherein the victim is at fault,
>     the robber is victim, and speaker of truth, the liar.

Victims usually are large contributors to their problems.  People who
walk down dark alleys in the middle of the night may not *deserve* to
get mugged, but they're still largely at fault when they get mugged,
since common sense tells you not to do that.

And people who vote for bad leaders may not be totally at fault when
those leaders do something, but they're largely to blame.

If someone says that they can balance the budget by cutting taxes and
raising spending, and people vote for them, who is at fault when the
politician cuts taxes and raises spending?  

>     And from the Double-Speak came the " learned words " of
>           " investing " in America
>           " concensus-building "
>           " courage to change "

>      And so the media did speak such words, and the true, critical
>      thinking did perish, and the tyranny of the hoodwinked masses
>      lay fallow over the land.

>      And such.  And so did America, land of freedom and determination
>      did slowly smother under the weighty lawyer's words.

-- 
David M. Nieporent   | Mike Mussina 1992 AL Cy Young Winner
niepornt@phoenix.    |------------------------------------ 
   princeton.edu     | "I still believe in a place called Hope."
Clinton/Gore '92.  Don't stop thinking about tomorrow.
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.politics.libertarian,talk.philosophy.misc,alt.individualism