You act like a bigshot but...

So, I'm going through what I'm sure the majority of campaign volunteers, staffers, aides, etc. go through at some point--starkly realizing that the candidate I've supported with so much dedication is, in fact, remarkably dumb. (Well, not remarkably dumb, but he disappoints me from time to time). Of course, the Utah state Democratic party itself is, perhaps the most politically inept state party in the United States of America, and that fact has never seemed to slow me down at all in my support for them, but that's a subject for another blog.

Certainly George W. Bush's handlers were aware of his enormous intellectual deficit from the get-go. Sarah Palin's have been tearing their hair out for weeks now. Wherever you find people whose egos are so inflated that they actually go out to persuade their communities that they should govern them, you will inevitably encounter monumentally dumb figures who are at the same time ridiculously self-aggrandized. Or, at the very least, you will find candidates and elected officials who are slightly more politically engaged than their neighbors, but are in no way perceptibly more intelligent.

Which is one of the great arguments against democracy--while it's nice to think that "the people" should govern themselves, where the rubber hits the road, the number of people who seek elected office who are also unqualified far outnumber the dwindling few intelligent, competent office-seekers. The clear solution is for the smart folks to stand up and get over their insecurities while the voters stand up and get over their ignorance. Of course, that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Kind of reminds me of the inherent failure of free markets. Consumers need to wise up and competent entrepreneurs need to step up. The fact that they don't in both politics and business leaves us being ruled by the blind who think they can see. Ah, Saramago....