Sarah Palin and the Dumbing Down of America

I have been reading a lot lately about how Sarah Palin's appeal is due to her ability to connect with "real" America and how she is just like so many other average Americans. I agree that Sarah Palin's appeal is because of this. However, what I can't understand is that people actually think this should be the hallmark of a leader. It's the dumbing down of America. We speak of America's greatness, and yet Sarah Palin's appeal is precisely for the opposite. She's not great; she's average. She's not impressive, she's ho-hum. She's not thoughtful or curious, she's actually vacuous and devoid of ideas. She's not even inspirational in any meaningful way; she's just happenstance celebrity. I challenge anyone to point out anything about Sarah Palin that represents anything even remotely accomplished that a parent would want her daughter to imitate. Sarah Palin is no role model for my daughters.

Let's try to think of this in a different way. When people say that they feel drawn to Sarah Palin because she is like them, don't you think you ought to know a bit more about who these people are who make this claim? Who is it that Palin appeals to and why? Are these people who live dysfunctional lives? At another level, I find it problematic that people who are drawn to Sarah Palin convey in their support for her that they want their leaders to be a "normal person" just like them. What does this mean when we recognize that of us are not very extraordinarily skilled in leadership, or knowledgable enough about complex matters, or psychologically prepared enough to endure in such a stressful and demanding job. Is that really what we want in a leader? Mediocrity? Sarah Palin's celebrity is because of her mediocrity. That's just pathetic, if you ask me, and is quite the opposite of what this country promises.

I know some very self-absorbed, ignorant, and troubled people who think their lives are "normal." They think that their lives are as "real" as it gets -- especially because they haven't had an easy life (even though it's a life they made for themselves). Yes, yes ... I know ... call me elitist; but I believe that being leader of the free world requires someone extraordinary, not someone ordinary; and the reality is that very few of us have what it takes to be President. I include myself in that number. I think there is a lack of imagination when people are drawn to someone as a leader not because of anything special about that person's abilities that transcend the average; but precisely because of that averageness. I also think that there is something very pedantic and even narcissistic to think someone worthy of leadership because they are like "me." I, personally, want my leaders to inspire me to something more, greater, better than what I think I am capable of or what I am accustomed to.

In fact, of the many conservatives I know, the ones who like Sarah Palin are people, even ones who are salt-of-the-earth good people, whom I would never, ever want to hold any position of authority over the public trust. Of the many conservatives I do know who are smart enough to recognize that extraordinary ability is actually desirable in a leader, almost none of them support Sarah Palin for any kind of authority in governing.

I come from a very humble background. Neither of my parents got a high school degree. They eventually earned their GEDs, but their formal education stopped there. Thank God my parents didn't ascribe to the attitude that I find undergirds much of the support for Sarah Palin, else I wouldn't have been encouraged to get all "elite" by going to a good university and aspiring to something beyond a career as an electrician, which is the family trade. In fact, the attitude of the Palinites is one that has its own elitism -- one that snubs its grubby "real America" nose at the American dream of becoming part of an elite. If you distinguish yourself from the "average" American, however that is defined, then you are one of those snobby elites who think they are better than the "average" American. It ascribes success outside of what Palinite America defines as success as "elitism." I just think it's plain jealousy at the success of others. How else can one look at the story of Barack Obama and think that his story is not as much the quintessential story of the American dream as any other. And yet the Palinites despise Obama because of his success and his abilities. They call him elitist because he resists the Palinite embrace of the dumbing down of America. Palinites can have their "Joe the Plumber" America. I prefer an America that recognizes the value of "Joe the Plumber" America, but sill aspires to something greater than that.