For your own good...

Another very good piece, also from Rational Passion. An excerpt:

For (Bill) Maher and (Sam) Harris, the Democrats fight for the little guy, peace, justice, and all good things. And if you don't vote for them, you're an idiot. And a narcissistic idiot for not realizing how stupid you are! You are to defer to the wisdom of your betters--people like Maher, Harris, Obama, and other left-liberals--and shut up! Why? Because you're stupid, fool!

If this is how you view the little guy--as a bitter, narcissistic, idiot who clings to
religion, guns, and xenophobia to give him comfort and security in a world without the blessings of "progressive" Democrats in charge--how can you be said to be his representative? Note that I have nothing against elitism. I have a problem with a certain kind of elitism. I have a problem with an elitist who claims to support the little guy out of one side of his mouth while sneering at his stupid Wal-Mart-shopping-gun-toting-Bible-believing ways out of the other.

Being a left-liberal elitist is not a function of one's economic class or educational attainment per se. Being a left-liberal elitist means believing that helping the little guy is the purpose of politics and simultaneously believing that the little guy would abandon the things that he says he values if only he had a few more dollars in his pocket and a better job, thanks to left-liberal government programs. Some people, shockingly, don't like being told that their values--right, wrong, or in-between--are symptoms of economic deprivation! Might they be? Sure. But people don't like being told that, and if you're going to insult them, don't expect them to vote for you.

Read the whole thing. Trust me, although I disagreee with his
idea of abstaining from the election, I certainly think he's got a top notch
analysis.

And here's a little bit more, from that same piece:

No, it won't be racism that does Barack Obama in, if he does in
fact lose. For every racist white who won't vote for Obama because he's a black
man, there's probably a guilty white liberal desperate to vote for a black
person to prove how non-racist he is. I think the racial issue is a wash--it may
help Obama, and it
may hurt him, but on balance, it won't be the deciding issue. I think the deeper
reason for Obama's
probable defeat is something he said in his convention speech. Obama told us why John
McCain won't embrace the brilliant Obama plan of hope and change. Obama said "It's not
because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it."
That, really, is all left-liberals have. To those of us who don't "get it," they
can offer no reason to support their candidate or their worldview. The bulk of
the press, Hollywood, academia, and our cultural institutions generally--they
"get it." They "get it" so well that the need to argue for and explain their
views is a skill they've lost. And there are a whole bunch of us who don't "get
it" and resent being told that we don't "get it" by people who use sneers and
smears to make their case instead of arguments.

Pwned.