Too bad that there is no conservative intelligentsia left in this country. I remember when conservatism used to denote at least a degree of sobriety and if not rationality, at least not aggressive irrationality.
Today is seems that to be a conservative you need to be, not just stupid, but outlandishly and loudly stupid. You can’t be the kind of old school, modest, homespun, stupid guys that would wax philosophical only after they prefaced their remarks with an acknowledgment that, while not “book smart” they had a degree of common sense.
Nope. Now, to be a conservative you have to be loud and stupid. You have to be as aggressively opposed to “book learning” as ever, but you have to be so while loudly claiming expertise on a vast range of subjects.
I mean, how is the merits of energy conservation even a political issue? How can anyone take any effort make the air a bit more clear or the rivers a bit less mercury filled as an affront to their political views?
The only explanation is that they belong to a club which demands that its members practice a loud, strident, pushy, outlandish stupidity from dusk to dawn. It is all they have.