Anti-intellectualism has been a useful subtext in U.S. politics when other epithets connoting an alien philosophy—such as "commie pinko"—to describe a candidate are out of vogue. The specter of intellectuals in politics is intended to raise alarms that snobs and snooty bookworms are determining the destiny of average folks. Boo.
Republicans make the most of this tactic.
In 1952, vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon introduced "eggheads" in the Eisenhower presidential campaign, applied to Democrat candidate Adlai Stevenson, a scholar of cosmopolitan wit whose voice and language were painstakingly meticulous, but lacking passion. Such learning and proper speech should be feared.
However, when Nixon later became president, he surrounded himself with "eggheads," not the least being super-egghead Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a prolific author, lecturer, Harvard professor, brooding architect of Nixonian foreign policies and a German émigré to boot.
Now another vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, who seems to come by anti-intellectualism easily, is bombarding new generations of voters with warnings about an "arrogant Washington elite." When asked what newspapers she reads, she couldn't name one on the first try, later still couldn't name any specifically and covered herself by saying, "All of them." She also wondered aloud after being picked by John McCain as the veep candidate "what does a vice president do?" She also couldn't name a critical Supreme Court decision other than Roe v Wade—including the high court's June decision cutting Exxon Valdez oil spill damages to Alaskan fisherman from $5 billion to $500 million, which Gov. Palin denounced in livid terms at the time.
Gov. Palin is either knowingly fooling her following of "soccer moms" and "Joe Six Pack Americans" with make-believe scorn for the "elite" or she actually doesn't know that McCain campaign principals are those "Washington elite," including McCain himself, a member of the "world's most exclusive club," an Annapolis graduate, scion of Navy royalty, spouse of a millionairess. And McCain's senior foreign policy adviser? That venerable, longtime Washington elitist, Henry Kissinger.
Given the prospect of an intellectual in the White House and Sarah Palin's self-styled Joe Six Pack approach to running government like a family business with high school chums, most Americans prefer the former in these dangerous and complex times.
This is no time to celebrate anti-intellectualism. High school dropout rates are at record levels. High percentages of students can't name their congressmen or locate states on a map. U.S. industry is begging permission to import better-educated foreign engineers and scientists to fill shortages. America's stature is at a new low.
Ignorance should be out, intellect in.
