Wait. Aren't Smart Elected Officials a Good Thing?

I mentioned late last month that there is in initiative in the state to have civilian flaggers take over many police construction site details (not all, though). The police are angry (and behaving inappropriately), but this is the right thing to do. Extremely budget-conscious - and we are facing big budget issues in this state, just like every other state.

Close on the heels of the governor's initiative, our local selectmen (in lieu of a mayor and staff, we have selectmen - one of whom is a selectwoman - and town meeting) bowed to pressure from the police department and added language to their contract giving the local police full control over staffing police details. Meaning, no civilian flaggers here, and the police will continue to get $40 an hour overtime pay for listening to their iPods. Mostly, anyway. Great.

This week in the local paper there was a letter to the editor decrying this turn of events. And it was someone I know. Cool, I first thought, and set in to the first paragraph. I was actually thrilled that the writer and I had something in common!

Within three sentences, the writer, CS, was ranting about "intellectual elitism" of our selectmen/woman. Aside from it having nothing to do with the issue at hand, and since the selectmen/woman are of the same political persuasion as CS (and all of whom are in contrast to this house), I wondered, since when is it bad to have smart people running our government? And what place does CS have to call anyone intellectual elitists?

Let me tell you a little about CS: He went to an Ivy League university (the one in Connecticut) and has an MBA from a well-known local university (though not the H). He runs a hedge-fund from his basement. He drives luxury cars and belongs to a local private club. He's doing pretty darn well for himself and his wife and four kids (who are extremely adorable).

In short, he has no fucking business calling anyone "intellectual elitist" in a derogatory manner. I think the term is "the pot calling the kettle black."

My sister does this, too, and it makes me nuts. By many definitions, she is an "intellectual" (though not by mine) and she's definitely elitist. She is college-educated with some graduate school, is well-read, she's affluent and well-traveled, and so on. When she tries to complain about "intellectual elitists", it's just a touch hollow. Just a touch.

It doesn't matter whether you are rich or poor or educated or not, snobbery exists at all levels of our society. The poor can be snobs about the rich just as the rich can be snobs about the poor, the more educated can be snobs about the less educated while the less educated can be snobs about the more educated (and I think we are seeing that in this election cycle). Yes, I recognize the difference between snobbery and elitism, but I happen to think CS really meant snobbery since he is part of the "elite". I know it's what my sister means.

I don't know how to get snobbery out of the equation as we move toward the general election. It would be nice. What I don't want to take out of the election is intellectualism. I want smart people to run my country. I want people who can make bigger connections than I can, people who can understand the economy, foreign policy and health care at a deeper level than I can.

It is not wrong to want the smart people running our country. I will not apologize for wanting that. Ever.

And if that makes me an "intellectual elitist?" So be it.