Our delightful world of doltocratic reality-detachitude

     “Detachment from reality.” There’s an interesting notion. All of us, I think, are somewhat detached from What Is. Few are entirely detached. There’s lots of room in the middle.
     Some people are both very and entertainingly reality-detached. Such a one is Mr. Steve Rocco of Orange. You’ll recall that, several years ago, the clueless and staunch people of the city of Orange elected him onto the board of the Orange Unified School District—evidently on the strength of his claiming to be an “educator,” something he isn’t. He showed up to board meetings with a signature nutty getup and a daft conspiracy theory having to do with sausages. He was incompetent. He was disruptive. He was a nut.
     There was nothing to be done about it, 'cause this is a democracy, and the people had spoken. His colleagues censured him (so what). They tried to recall him, but they couldn’t get enough staunch Orangeites to stop and think. They snarled instead.
     The people of Orange were saved from persistent Roccohood by a fortuity, namely, a redistricting, which redefined Rocco’s seat’s area in a manner that failed to include Rocco’s home, a treehouse in Hart Park. (I made up that last part.)
     Naturally, later, he was caught stealing ketchup from the Chapman University cafeteria. (He did not steal one of Chapman’s ironic Albert Schweitzer monuments. That would have been intelligible.)
     There was a trial. He blathered about his favorite conspiracy. More sausage. He lost.
     He ran for city council. No luck there. Then, recently, he ran for OC Public Administrator—against incumbent and über jackass John Williams, who happens to be an SOCCCD trustees. Naturally, despite two “scathing” grand jury reports about Williams’ disastrous performance and character, the voters reelected him. They did this even though one or two apparently knowledgeable alternative candidates, not including Mr. Rocco, were also on the ballot.
     (Once in a while, I get into a debate with somebody about whether you’ve got a democracy when the voters are persistently bone stupid (well, bone ignorant)—and also persistently incapable of recognizing that fact. Some say yes: it’s just a shitty kind of democracy is all, a Doltocracy. Some say no: focus on the manipulators, the “engineers of consent,” they say. They’re the real rulers. Owing to the apparently limited intents of the so-called “manipulators,” I tend to favor the first view.)
     Well, according to the Greater Orange News Service, Rocco is at it again:

Controversial former Orange Unified School Board Trustee Steve Rocco has pulled papers to run in Trustee Area 7 of the sprawling Greater Orange school district. Rocco served one turbulent term on the OUSD Board … and then a recall effort led by other Board members that failed due to lack of signatures. He eventually was ousted not by recall or election, but by a redistricting…. Trustees in OUSD must live in the Area they represent, but are elected at-large).Trustee Area 7 is represented by Trustee Rick Ledesma and his term expires in November. Ledesma was one of the few people who managed not to get into a conflict with Rocco, at one point even sponsoring Rocco putting two Agenda items on the Board’s agenda. When Rocco’s home was moved into Ledesma’s area, Rocco declared that he would not run against Ledesma….

     OK, so, on top of being a lunatic, Rocco is disloyal to his friends and doesn’t keep his word. But that just makes him ordinary.

     According to Mr. Cunningham over on the Red County blog, the people of Orange aren’t about to make the same mistake twice, but I’m not so sure. I recall talking to a hotshot political scientist in the middle of the Steve Frogue recall (back in ’98). Said Professor Hotshot: it could be that your recall effort will only make Frogue’s name vaguely familiar to voters as they enter the voting booth in a couple of years. Voters don't think; they don't pay attention. So they won’t remember that Frogue's a nut and a Holocaust denier; they’ll remember only his name.
     So, natch, they’ll vote for ‘im.
     In a way, I hope Rocco wins. He may be a nut, but he doesn’t seem to have vices exactly. (Not like Williams, who’s all Shit-Eating-Grin.) If you’re going to have a democracy that, owing to the foolishness of the people, barely works, it’s better to elect incompetent lunatics than incompetent, smiling Shit-shire Cats.
     It’s no less ridiculous, but it’s a smidge less corrupt.