This is the last time I'm going to quote from Just How Stupid Are We? by Rick Shenkman. I'm taking it back to the library today...that's why. But I would be remiss if I did not pass on two great observations on conservatism and the role of The People in American politics.
Skepticism of popular government grew naturally out of the bedrock conviction that man is fundamentally depraved, sin is universal, and redemption is rare. So essential were all of these beliefs to conservatism that one is hard-pressed to imagine what is left of a conservatism that exists without them.
In the twenty-first century conservatives have joined liberals in competing as flatterers of the vox populi. Whatever The People believe is right. On Fox News nary a single commentator is given time to express skepticism of The People. In their hurry to curry favor with viewers, Fox News conservatives are unwilling to suggest that the voters are ever in error. It is never the voters who make mistakes. It is liberals. We are all populists now.
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