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Sam Harris on Sarah Palin and Elitism

Ask yourself: how has "elitism" become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth,in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn’t seem too intelligent or well educated.

I believe that with the nomination of Sarah Palin for the vice presidency, the silliness of our politics has finally put our nation at risk. The world is growing more complex – and dangerous – with each passing hour, and our position within it growing more precarious. Should she become president, Palin seems capable of enacting policies so detached from the common interests of humanity, and from empirical reality, as to unite the entire world against us. When asked why she is qualified to shoulder more responsibility than any person has held in human history, Palin cites her refusal to hesitate. "You can’t blink," she told Gibson repeatedly, as though this were a primordial truth of wise governance. Let us hope that a President Palin would blink, again and again, while more thoughtful people decide the fate of civilization. When Atheists Attack

The bottom line here is the attraction far too many American Voters have toward those whose loyalty is to their fundamentalist religion rather than their loyalty to their Country and the Constitution. It is the WHY of 911, the WHY of our war in Afghanistan with the Taliban, the WHY of our problems in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and the entire Middle East, and the WHY of most intolerance, bigotry and violent insanity in the world today.

It is not Sarah Palin who is the problem. She is a fine Soccer Mom, NRA Life Member, Field Dresser and Bimbo. The problem is too many American voters (enough to destroy this country) who believe she is the kind of brain trust we need running things in the most complicated area of our lives. And it is not just crazyass religious nuts either, never forget it was John McCain who choose her.