Tuesday, September 16, 2008

David Brooks: Why Experience Matters

from today's New York Times, columnist David Brooks on Palin's qualifications:

Philosophical debates arise at the oddest times, and in the heat of this election season, one is now rising in Republican ranks. The narrow question is this: Is Sarah Palin qualified to be vice president? ...

There was a time when conservatives did not argue about this. Conservatism was once a frankly elitist movement. Conservatives stood against radical egalitarianism and the destruction of rigorous standards. They stood up for classical education, hard-earned knowledge, experience and prudence. Wisdom was acquired through immersion in the best that has been thought and said.

But, especially in America, there has always been a separate, populist, strain. For those in this school, book knowledge is suspect but practical knowledge is respected. The city is corrupting and the universities are kindergartens for overeducated fools.

The elitists favor sophistication, but the common-sense folk favor simplicity. The elitists favor deliberation, but the populists favor instinct.

This populist tendency produced the term-limits movement based on the belief that time in government destroys character but contact with grass-roots America gives one grounding in real life. And now it has produced Sarah Palin...


For the rest, click here.

4 comments:

Professor Zero said...

Sometimes I quite appreciate David Brooks!

Anonymous said...

Why don't these "populists" go all the way and grab somebody who's washing the floors at the local Wall-Mart?

Anonymous said...

Brooks goes on to quote George Will, who notes the numerous appearances of the word "experience" in the Federalist Papers.

Has the Republican Party gone completely mad?

Anonymous said...

the vote chick looks pretty hot.
thanks chunk for bringing what really matters into light
hot chicks with cool signs

heheheheee

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...