SALON

Monday, Sep 17, 2012 2:45 PM UTC

Just the right kind of stupid

Rick Santorum's attack on "smart people" has its roots in centuries-old elite bashing. And it often works

By

Topics: Rick Santorum, 2012 Elections, Sarah Palin, anti-intellectualism, Edward Burke,

Just the right kind of stupid (Credit: AP)

If the core ideology of conservative politics in America could be reduced to a sentence, it would be something like this:  The right kind of stupidity is preferable to the wrong sort of expertise.

This is illustrated nicely by a speech  former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum gave this weekend at the Values Voter Summit. Santorum understands that the key emotion that fuels the Republican base is resentment — and in particular resentment at having their beliefs mocked by the biased Mainstream Media, and the decadent Hollywood blasphemers, and the all smarty-pants professors high up in their ivory towers, etc.:

“We will never have the media on our side, ever, in this country.  We will never have the elite smart people on our side, because they believe they should have the power to tell you what to do.  So our colleges and universities, they’re not going to be on our side.”

Santorum is of course being sardonic: He’s not really arguing that intelligence disqualifies people from being political conservatives.  Rather, he’s stoking the resentment of the people who make up the GOP base. He’s doing so while drawing implicitly on two classic anti-intellectual arguments, which have been much favored by conservative intellectuals over the past couple of centuries.

The first of these is that intellectuals aren’t nearly as smart as they think they are. (It’s telling that in American political life the very word “intellectual” might as well be an insult, and anyone who uses it is practically required to employ adjectival modifier “so-called.”  I much prefer the 19th century legal term “brain toiler.” )

From Edmund Burke and Walter Bagehot, to Michael Oakeshott and Paul Johnson, conservative philosophers and polemicists have attacked the intellectual hubris of the modern intellectual, so-called, who thinks he knows better than you do how your children should be raised and educated, how your money should be spent, how your government should be run, and so on and so forth.

In one sense the entire ideology of contemporary conservative politics is one sustained wail of protest against experts and bureaucrats and other statistics-wielding busybodies, who are always trying to undermine certain self-evident truths, such as that America is the greatest country the world has ever seen, because it has embraced Christianity (modified tactfully in recent decades to “our Judeo-Christian heritage”) and the free enterprise system.

Now this is a fairly stupid belief, but to conservative intellectuals, to point to a belief’s stupidity is not necessarily to criticize it. This proposition was defended most straightforwardly by Bagehot, who praised the virtues of “stupidity” (by which he meant the unreflective beliefs of the average man), and who claimed the ideal statesman was a leader of “common opinions and uncommon abilities.”

This is why Ronald Reagan is the icon of contemporary conservatism:  The fact that he saw the world in black-and-white terms (America: Good; America’s enemies: Bad) was not, from the perspective of conservative ideology, a weakness, but rather one of his greatest strengths.   Leave the “nuance” and the “complexity” to the decadent, relativistic elites, whose decadent relativism has left them incapable of embracing patriotism, or religious belief, or the traditional family, or anything else that has made America the greatest country the world has ever seen.

Santorum’s attack on “elite smart people” is just the latest installment in a series that, in the history of the contemporary GOP, goes back at least as far as Richard Nixon’s praise of the “silent majority,” and his vice president’s wildly popular attacks on “the nattering nabobs of negativism.”  (Spiro Agnew was also famous for claiming that “an intellectual is a man who doesn’t know how to park a bike.”)

Such attacks both draw upon and feed the rich strain of populist resentment that dominates cultural conservatism in America today.  For instance, when liberals recoil in horror at the aggressive ignorance of a Sarah Palin they’re missing the point. That someone like Palin has the intellectual sophistication of a moderately well-read 12-year-old is, in the eyes of her millions of fans, just another reason to prefer her to the “elitist” brain toilers.

Paul Campos

Paul Campos is a professor of law at the University of Colorado at Boulder. More Paul Campos.

You Might Also Like

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

7 motorist-friendly camping sites

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 9

Sponsored Post

  • White River National Forest via Lower Crystal Lake, Colorado
    For those OK with the mainstream, White River Forest welcomes more than 10 million visitors a year, making it the most-visited recreation forest in the nation. But don’t hate it for being beautiful; it’s got substance, too. The forest boasts 8 wilderness areas, 2,500 miles of trail, 1,900 miles of winding service system roads, and 12 ski resorts (should your snow shredders fit the trunk space). If ice isn’t your thing: take the tire-friendly Flat Tops Trail Scenic Byway — 82 miles connecting the towns of Meeker and Yampa, half of which is unpaved for you road rebels.
    fs.usda.gov/whiteriveryou


    Image credit: Getty

  • Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest via Noontootla Creek, Georgia
    Boasting 10 wildernesses, 430 miles of trail and 1,367 miles of trout-filled stream, this Georgia forest is hailed as a camper’s paradise. Try driving the Ridge and Valley Scenic Byway, which saw Civil War battles fought. If the tall peaks make your engine tremble, opt for the relatively flat Oconee National Forest, which offers smaller hills and an easy trail to the ghost town of Scull Shoals. Scaredy-cats can opt for John’s Mountain Overlook, which leads to twin waterfalls for the sensitive sightseer in you.
    fs.usda.gov/conf


    Image credit: flickr/chattoconeenf

  • Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area via Green Road, Michigan
    The only national forest in Lower Michigan, the Huron-Mainstee spans nearly 1 million acres of public land. Outside the requisite lush habitat for fish and wildlife on display, the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area is among the biggest hooks for visitors: offering beach camping with shores pounded by big, cerulean surf. Splash in some rum and you just might think you were in the Caribbean.
    fs.usda.gov/hmnf


    Image credit: umich.edu

  • Canaan Mountain via Backcountry Canaan Loop Road, West Virginia
    A favorite hailed by outdoorsman and author Johnny Molloy as some of the best high-country car camping sites anywhere in the country, you don’t have to go far to get away. Travel 20 miles west of Dolly Sods (among the busiest in the East) to find the Canaan Backcountry (for more quiet and peace). Those willing to leave the car for a bit and foot it would be remiss to neglect day-hiking the White Rim Rocks, Table Rock Overlook, or the rim at Blackwater River Gorge.
    fs.usda.gov/mnf


    Image credit: Getty

  • Mt. Rogers NRA via Hurricane Creek Road, North Carolina
    Most know it as the highest country they’ll see from North Carolina to New Hampshire. What they may not know? Car campers can get the same grand experience for less hassle. Drop the 50-pound backpacks and take the highway to the high country by stopping anywhere on the twisting (hence the name) Hurricane Road for access to a 15-mile loop that boasts the best of the grassy balds. It’s the road less travelled, and the high one, at that.
    fs.usda.gov/gwj


    Image credit: wikipedia.org

  • Long Key State Park via the Overseas Highway, Florida
    Hiking can get old; sometimes you’d rather paddle. For a weekend getaway of the coastal variety and quieter version of the Florida Keys that’s no less luxe, stick your head in the sand (and ocean, if snorkeling’s your thing) at any of Long Key’s 60 sites. Canoes and kayaks are aplenty, as are the hot showers and electric power source amenities. Think of it as the getaway from the typical getaway.
    floridastateparks.org/longkey/default.cfm


    Image credit: floridastateparks.org

  • Grand Canyon National Park via Crazy Jug Point, Arizona
    You didn’t think we’d neglect one of the world’s most famous national parks, did you? Nor would we dare lead you astray with one of the busiest parts of the park. With the Colorado River still within view of this cliff-edge site, Crazy Jug is a carside camper’s refuge from the troops of tourists. Find easy access to the Bill Hall Trail less than a mile from camp, and descend to get a peek at the volcanic Mt. Trumbull. (Fear not: It’s about as active as your typical lazy Sunday in front of the tube, if not more peaceful.)
    fs.usda.gov/kaibab


    Image credit: flickr/Irish Typepad

  • As the go-to (weekend) getaway car for fiscally conscious field trips with friends, the 2013 MINI Convertible is your campground racer of choice, allowing you and up to three of your co-pilots to take in all the beauty of nature high and low. And with a fuel efficiency that won’t leave you in the latter, you won’t have to worry about being left stranded (or awkwardly asking to go halfsies on gas expenses).


    Image credit: miniusa.com

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 9

Related Videos

Comments

 22 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username ( settings | log out )

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Let's Stop Screwing Around and Impeach James Clapper: After lying to Congress about all the different ways the NSA's spying on us, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lies about how he lied. Call the White House at 202 456-1111 and Tell Obama to Get Rid of Clapper
350 points351 points | 18 comments
vote
Let's Stop Screwing Around and Impeach James Clapper: After lying to Congress about all the different ways the NSA's spying on us, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lies about how he lied. Call the White House at 202 456-1111 and Tell Obama to Get Rid of Clapper
210 points211 points | 25 comments
vote
Machiavelli doesn’t belong to the 1 percent | "The Prince" is oft-quoted on Wall Street, but its author was a hero of the working class who despised elites
90 points91 points | 33 comments
vote
Let's Stop Screwing Around and Impeach James Clapper: After lying to Congress about all the different ways the NSA's spying on us, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lies about how he lied. Call the White House at 202 456-1111 and Tell Obama to Get Rid of Clapper
55 points56 points | 7 comments
vote
“Whistle-blower” now means “homegrown terrorist” And other definitions from the new dictionary for our post-9/11 security state
46 points47 points | 2 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Joker": Laughing at life's deepest sorrows