Skip to main content

The Low IQ of American Politics

In the United Sates as much as in Britain, the idea of a political elite attracts fear and loathing in equal measure. "Elitist" is a political insult in both political cultures. It is important for aspiring politicians that they sell themselves as normal plain folks. So it is that we get the uncomfortable spectacle of various politicians trying unconvincingly to mix it with the proles.


Yet what are we to make of the latest twists in the bizarre saga of Sarah Palin?


It becomes clear that as candidate for the second highest office in the United States, she knew so little about international affairs, even of the closest ally of the US, that she proposed talking to the Queen in order to ensure continued British presence in Iraq. This doltish woman could have been a heartbeat away from supreme power in the United States- the worlds most powerful state!


Now of course we can say that she was an exception- but she isn't. Stupidity seems to be no hurdle to gaining political power, indeed it seems to be becoming part of the job description- after all plenty of plain folks are a bit stupid- "hey, he/she is just like me... at least he is not part of one of those elites... ".


The good fairy seems to have given the United States huge gifts to maintain its intellectual and financial lead in vast areas of human endevour, but unfortunately the bad fairy seems to be gifting the United States the most dysfunctional politicians of any democratic state, bar Italy. 


Mitt Romney is an asset stripper who avoids taxes. Newt Gingrich is a self regarding puff-ball. Rick Santorum is a close minded and fanatical bigot. Ron Paul is a geriatric odd ball.


Compared to the Republican field even the distinctly sub-par Barack Obama looks good- and he has added yet more regulation into the mire created by George W. Bush. 


You can hardly blame the Republicans for hoping that Jeb Bush will come to their rescue. 


Yet that is not going to happen. The Republicans have a choice between certain losers- and that is pretty unhealthy at a time of relentless crisis. 


The determination of voters to avoid any whisper of elitism has eliminated any candidates of distinction.  Meanwhile the financial war reaches new heights of absurdity as the Super PACS crush all before them.


The fact is that the political class in the United States is now more isolated, more insular and more stupid than it has ever been. I hesitate to call such low grade individuals an "elite", but they are certainly apart from the rest of America- and in grave danger of destroying all the success beyond the Washington Beltway.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Concert and Blues

Tallinn is full tonight... Big concerts on at the Song field The Weeknd and Bonnie Tyler (!). The place is buzzing and some sixty thousand concert goers have booked every bed for thirty miles around Tallinn. It should be a busy high summer, but it isn´t. Tourism is down sharply overall. Only 70 cruise ships calling this season, versus over 300 before Ukraine. Since no one goes to St Pete, demand has fallen, and of course people think that Estonia is not safe. We are tired. The economy is still under big pressure, and the fall of tourism is a significant part of that. The credit rating for Estonia has been downgraded as the government struggles with spending. The summer has been a little gloomy, and soon the long and slow autumn will drift into the dark of the year. Yesterday I met with more refugees: the usual horrible stories, the usual tears. I try to make myself immune, but I can´t. These people are wounded in spirit, carrying their grief in a terrible cradling. I try to project hop...
Post a Comment
Read more

One Year On

  Head vabariigi iseseisvuspäeva! Happy Estonian Independence Day! It is one year since I stood outside the Estonian Parliament for the traditional raising of the national flag from Tall Hermann tower. Looking at the young fraternities gathered with their flags, I was very sure that Estonia too would soon be facing the aggression of the criminal Russian regime. A tragic and dark day. 5 eyes intelligence had been clear: an all out invasion was going to happen, and Putin´s goals included- and still include- "restoration" of Russian imperial power across Europe, even to the Atlantic. Yet there was one Western intelligence failure: we all underestimated the guts of the Ukrainian armed forces, the ZSU, and its President and people. One year on, Estonia, and indeed all the front line states against Russia, knows that Ukraine saved us. Estonia used that time to prepare itself, should that "delayed" onslaught ever be unleashed, but equally the determination of Kaja Kallas, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Media misdirection

In the small print of the UK budget we find that the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the British Finance Minister) has allocated a further 15 billion Pounds to the funding for the UK track and trace system. This means that the cost of the UK´s track and trace system is now 37 billion Pounds.  That is approximately €43 billion or US$51 billion, which is to say that it is amount of money greater than the national GDP of over 110 countries, or if you prefer, it is roughly the same number as the combined GDP of the 34 smallest economies of the planet.  As at December 2020, 70% of the contracts for the track and trace system were awarded by the Conservative government without a competitive tender being made . The program is overseen by Dido Harding , who is not only a Conservative Life Peer, but the wife of a Conservative MP, John Penrose, and a contemporary of David Cameron and Boris Johnson at Oxford. Many of these untendered contracts have been given to companies that seem to have ...
Post a Comment
Read more