Sarah and the Snob Factor

Anybody can be a snob. You can be a conservative and be a snob. You can be a right-winger and have an inflated view of your own intelligence, wisdom and sophistication. There are a lot of conservative snobs who look down their highly elevated noses at Sarah Palin.

There was a day--seems like yesterday to us old guys--when it seemed like liberals absolutely controlled the flow of public information about politics and just about every other subject of interest to the people.  We could read between the lines of CBS or Newsweek or any of the standard information outlets.  But it was a bore. Yes, there were a few conservative periodicals out there but their circulation was limited. You never saw them on the magazine rack at the drug store.
 
So it was a breath of fresh air when the conservative media began its ascendancy. At last there were voices who agreed with the "silent majority" who were able to find a platform that was accessible to average folks.

But of course human nature is human nature. On the right AND the left there are plenty of pundits, commentators, what have you, who are most definitely not moved by principle first.  The new media has created new opportunities for "thinkers" and talkers, but now there are a thousand times as many voices shouting to the ears of radio listeners and seeking to grab the attention of the internet surfer. Maybe millions of times as many.

So those trying to be heard jockey for position in whatever way they can.  If there are millions of Americans hungering for conservative information, then there will be at least thousands of would-be providers doing anything to get noticed—not only by the consumer, but by the big boys who have already made it in that august and respected profession. As these pundits rise up the food chain it seems that more and more their real desired audience is other pundits, preferably pundits who will mention them and their clever websites on some cable news channel during the hours of darkness commonly called prime time.

In this exciting pre-election season, there is one woman who has shown her ability to control the conversation at will and whose deliberations about her own political future are the focus of all. You know who I mean.

Now this lady is not from Harvard or Yale. She doesn't have up-east connections at all. As a matter of fact, many think the pitch and inflection of her voice prove conclusively that she just couldn't be that smart.  Smart people sound like...well, like Obama. He has a mellow voice that maintains that lofty cadence that goes so well with a side dish of Styrofoam Greek columns. In short, he is PRESIDENTIAL. He makes the pseudo-intellectual pundits feel good about themselves. Forget the fact that's he's never actually accomplished anything. He's sophisticated. He's cool. And if I approve of him that makes me cool too. That other lady is not cool. She's "folksy," a pejorative term if there ever was one. She even hangs around out in the woods. She hunts and fishes. You can't get any more un-cool than that.

So as the wannabes try to push and shove their was to notoriety they feel it might be helpful in appealing to the big name guys to make wisecracks about Palin--to mock her possible candidacy, her delay in announcing, and just about anything else that they find mock-worthy, even the slander printed by that purveyor of slime, Crown Publishers. It's all fodder for the conservative snob who wants to be seen as too sophisticated to support a backwater politician like Palin.

Snobbery is actually a cover for an acute lack of self worth. A person who really is wise and understanding doesn't need pretense as a mask. But the snob does. The snob needs to feel bigger than he is. His constant fear is that the sense of inferiority that gnaws at his insides will be exposed to the world.  To quote a famous third-party presidential candidate from the past, "It's just sad, Larry."

Thankfully, the pipsqueak snobs in the third rank of conservative punditry will not select the next president. There are too many of us hicks out here who have had enough of the pseudo-sophisticated "leadership" that has all but wrecked the most powerful economy in history. We will not be swayed by the blowhards.  We have heard a fresh voice from a woman whose first commitment is to her country and not her career or to personal ambition. We have seen her demonstrate her commitment by being willing to walk away from a highly paid position in government because her conscience demanded that she do so.  And we will back her if she chooses to run for president regardless of what the internet social climbers of conservatism have to say about it.

Love your parents

It rained on Labor Day, so instead of cooking out we all piled into the van and went to the mall to hang out with the rest of the hoi polloi and maybe eat some cheap food in the food court.  As we drove along we listened to 70's music on Sirius since as patriarch I control the in-flight entertainment.

The old classic "Cat's In The Cradle" came on and my son asked me what it was all about.  He thought maybe the chorus about men in the moon, etc, was another drug induced vision from his dad's generation.

Anyway, when Chapin got to the last verse I couldn't help thinking about my dad.

I've long since retired, my son's moved away,
I called him up just the other day.
I said I'd like to see you if you don't mind
He said I'd love to dad if I can find the time
You see my new job's a hassle and kids have the flu
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad,
It's been sure nice talking to you.

My dad died a little over three and a half years ago.  Like everybody else who's ever lost somebody I guess, I think of things I wish I'd done differently.  After we dropped the kids at the mall and my wife and I drove across the street to make another stop before lunch, I started to weep as I told her my feelings while listening to that song.

I remembered the times my dad called me--like the son in the song I moved away from Memphis, Tennessee to upstate New York--to ask for my help on some "unimportant" computer issue, usually related to something cosmetic with Windows.  The thought would usually cross my mind, "I'd like to kill my nephew for giving my dad his first compter," but of course I never said that to my dad.

I would usually do my best to help him over the phone, but now I wonder if my impatience was reflected in my voice.  I hope not.

My dad was a great man.  You can ask any of the many people who attended his funeral in Memphis. He touched many lives and encouraged people in special ways, visiting hospitals and shut-ins as part of his ministry.  He had a special gift that was appreciated by hundreds.

I wish my dad could call me up today.  I would talk to him for hours about anything on his mind.  But like King David said, "I'll go to him someday, but he won't come to me."

A few weeks before he died my dad sent an email to me and my three brothers.  He said he just hadn't been feeling well and wanted us all to know how much he loved us.  I will treasure that message sent through his pesky computer until the day I die.

If you still have your parents, keep in mind you won't have them forever.  Give them your time, your help, your listening ears.  They gave you life, they cared for you, cleaned your diapers, took care of your messes, and spent a fortune bringing you up to adulthood.

The least you can do is stop what you're doing when they call and devote your attention to their concerns however small they may seem next to your important activities.  Someday you'll wish you had.

Labor Day 2011

I don't usually "celebrate" Labor Day--I grew up in a right to work state--but this is a special day because Sarah Palin will speak today in New Hampshire.  She just made a hugely publicized speech in Iowa.  But of course, she's not running.  She's just a "diva" who's going around sucking up the oxygen from the other candidates.  She says she wants to help elect the right common sense conservative, but in reality she just likes getting on TV and hearing her own voice.

Or at least I think that's the screed.  There are others, but at this point since they've given up mocking her daughter, her Downs syndrome son, her voice, her hair, her home state, etc, etc, this seems to be the tack of not only the libs but the RINO establishment represented by the current front-runners as well as many conservative "roots" out there who have allowed the foregoing two groups to perform something of a Jedi mind trick on them, convincing them that Palin is "unelectable."

Time Magazine back in 1980--even after it appeared Reagan had the nomination sewn up--had similar doubts about the Gipper.  History has cleared that little misunderstanding up for us quite nicely.

Anyway, time will tell--not the magazine--about this great lady.  But if you are a conservative who really wants to return to the vision of America enshrined in the Constitution, you should get behind the person who will really work to make that return and forget the pretenders who are trying to talk a good game.

This is my first blog and I am notoriously unfaithful at keeping up with "regular" things like this, so we'll see if I continue.

By the way, I do drink coffee EVERY morning, prowl the internet EVERY day and go to church EVERY Sunday.  So I can keep up with some things.....

Go, Sarah!