Reply #41: I don't think

[Newcastle]

we should be elitist in the sense of thinking there are some people who should make decisions and other people who should simply obey. I do think you've hit on a real problem in the U.S., though. Intelligence and knowledge are grossly undervalued, to the point of making people shun education and wear their ignorance as a badge of honor. It's sort of a reverse elitism. What we should do is work for a higher level of education, a more enlightened political discourse. We have to raise the lowest common denominator before it sinks us all.