Letters to the Editor
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But We're Not Elite THEY'RE the Elite Ones
I'm smart and I have common sense and a sense of decency. I have a desire to do the best I can and to solve problems quickly, cleanly and fairly. I empathize with others (to a point) and I don't expect others to do my work for me or take my blame for me.
That's not elite. The elites are the Bushes and the Cheneys and the Beltway nobodies who got where they are today either through inherited wealth or through their connections to people who have inherited wealth (Brownie, eg).
They are both elite and mediocre.
It is a pretty common phenomenon. It's where the term "a gentleman's C" comes from.
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Mediocrity and Term Limits
The celebration of mediocrity that Maher bemoans in this article (and that I completely agree with him on) has been institutionalized in a number of states, and in the Presidency, in the form of term limits. If it wasn't for them, we would probably be living through the fourth term of the Clinton administration, instead of the fifth year of the Iraq war. Think about that.
Term limits were enacted in the wake of the Roosevelt presidency, apparently to ensure that the White House is never again dominated by a President as competent and skilled as he was. The same early nineties orgy of class resentment that saw the rise of Newt Gingrich also saw the spread of these horrible laws, which require us to regularly purge our elected institutions of all of their accumulated wisdom and experience, to state and local governments all over this country. We have been stuck with them, and their anti-democratic mandate of change simply for the sake of change, ever since.
If you are sick and tired of living in this idiocracy that Bill Maher so vividly describes in this essay, and want to see the grownups and professionals back in charge, OPPOSE TERM LIMITS.
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Oh, And Pat Roberston Is An Elite, Too
I forgot to mention him in my previous letter. Pat Robertson is the son of a senator and a distant relative of the 9th US President, William Henry Harrison, as well as his grandson, the 23rd US President, Benjamin Harrison.
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Oh boohoo for the Christians
I am so tired of reading letters of the 'don't say mean things about Christians because there are nice Christians' ilk. If you believe that a woman gave birth without getting impregnated and a man rose from the dead, you are delusional. Just like the homeless guy who's talking to the lamp post, you have beliefs that are untrue and more than a little wacky. I don't want delusional people running my country. It's bad for the country. Why is that so controversial or difficult to understand?
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For Lisa S
US News also ranks law schools. In the 4th, and bottom, tier, you will find Regent.
And, as others have noted, a 67% bar passage rate is dismal.
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Another reason to vote 3rd party
So here's your choice, jingoistic exceptionalism or pretensious elitism. Look really close, I'm sure you'll find a meaningful difference.
Another reason to chuck all these boring partisan BS artists into the Potamic and take back our country.
Yuck!
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lex talionis
Maher is as ignorant about Jesus view of the lex talionis as the fundies he criticizes when he writes:
"You see, years ago Pat became concerned that our legal system was coddling criminals, forgiving them instead of meting out that Old Testament "eye for an eye" justice Jesus Christ never shuts up about".
Actually Jesus' view of the Old Testament rule was expressed by him in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew ch 5) when he said:
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, don't resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and don't turn away him who desires to borrow from you".
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@Anonymous
Huh? I didn't dispute Regent's pathetic ranking. I disputed Maher's ridiculing of Messiah and implication that it was also a bottom-tier school.
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For Lisa S, again
Maher only states that Goodling went to Messiah:
Goodling did her undergraduate work at Messiah College -- home of the "Fighting Christies."
That is a fact - she did. He doesn't say anything about the school, other than it's not Harvard. Which it's not. His ridicule is reserved, and rightly so, for the Regent University School of Law.
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Religion
From an outsiders (Australian) point of view these letters go some way to explaining how Bush and his cohorts have managed to get as far as they did. Perhaps the view is that the man can’t be all bad because he’s a Christian. The fact that Bush would embrace Satanism if it would improve his ratings seems to be get lost in all this sanctimony. Don’t get me wrong; Australians are very devout; we worship the multiple gods of football, cricket, the beach, barbeques and booze. I will admit that in times of crisis even we will call on the Savior, as in.. “Jesus! what’s wrong with that umpire, is he blind”.
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well well
I have no idea who Maher is, but this is Salon, not Comedy Central. I was expecting serious reporting, or at least intelligent parody. This 'piece' is not funny, enlightening, or even interesting.
My real question is, why the hell does everyone assume that anyone here who doesn't agree with them is a right-wing Nazi? I don't like Bill Maher and compare him to the equally unfunny Ann Coulter, and somehow that makes me one of "her" ilk. No wonder people hate 'elitist liberals.' You guys are so busy patting your own backs, whining about how dumb everyone else is, and laughing at crappy humor that people as incompetent as Bush can wipe the floor with your asses when it comes to, um, conquering the world.
And it's pretty sad that I'm the one who has to say this, because until I started reading anonymous internet bilge, I thought I was the most liberal person I knew.