February 1st, 2010

I DRIVE A TRUCK

A few weeks ago two seemingly unrelated things happened on opposite ends of America; in Massachusetts, a special election was held that literally changed the political landscape of the nation and derailed President Obama’s agenda, and on our little radio show someone called in to describe me as an elitist.

Certainly it would seem that these two evens have no binding tie, but the truth is that they are intrinsically linked in a way that literally defines the mood, tone, direction and challenges our nation face today.

At the risk of appearing defensive, I state for the record that I am not an elitist. I freely and proudly admit I am pretentious, pompous, confident to a level some find arrogant, aloof, and basically uninterested in the affairs of others to the point of appearing stand-offish. But I am the furthest thing on Earth from being an elitist.

President Barack Obama and his ilk are elitists defined. Their actions, their words, and even their mannerisms all clearly convey and confirm their utter disdain for America and its citizens and that, in a nutshell, is elitism.

Often times on our radio show people try to use things we say in entertaining or joking conversations against us in serious ones. Let’s agree to have an honest discussion for the purpose of this column shall we? Let’s agree to put aside lame attempts at “gotcha” moments for the understanding and defining of the true evil of elitism as it walks amongst us. When I mock Wal-mart or make fun of people who wear cotton, that is clearly being done as an irreverent way to make people laugh, not as a reflection of what lives in my soul. When President Obama mocks people who drive pick-up trucks in a nation that lives for its trucks, it’s a clear indication of just how out of touch and elitist the man is.

Elitists live in a world that demands all people not just think but also act as they do; and those who don’t are to be mocked, vilified and convinced under the rule of force and law to either do so or be exterminated; both literally and figuratively. 

Elitists want to control your every behavior because you are too stupid to decide for yourself what you should or should not do. People like me encourage you to be stupid. I have never once said that people shouldn’t eat excessive amounts of fast food, smoke, consume buckets of salt, be forced to exercise or told they can’t have access to marijuana. In fact, just the opposite; I say let people do whatever they want, even things I disagree with vehemently or would never do myself. 
In my life, I regulate my consumption of fast food, have never smoked anything other than cigars (which is more and more rare these days), hate exercise and watch very carefully how much salt, sugar and other additives I put in my body because those choices are what I find to be right for me. Furthermore, I do think the world would be a better place if everyone did those things…but I refuse to force it on anyone. Elitists refuse to not force their agenda on people.

I stay at the finest resorts in the world when I travel, and when I see someone who clearly “doesn’t belong” there I smile at them and make sure they feel comfortable. I might even ask if they need help finding where they’re heading, if they appear to be slightly overwhelmed by all of the choices before them. Why shouldn’t I attempt to make their stay better? Perhaps it’s their honeymoon and their one chance in their life to experience how the “upper crust” lives and I’ll be damned if I am going to ruin that experience for them. An elitist demands to speak with the manager and know how and why the “riff-raff” has been allowed into their exclusive, rarified air.

When President Barack Obama campaigned for a woman named Martha Coakley a few weeks ago during her failed attempt to become the next senator from Massachusetts, he made the latest in a series of elitist statements which have dove-tailed with his elitist, behavior controlling policies. During his presidential campaign of 2008, Obama famously mocked Americans who “cling to their religion and their guns,” in a nation where more than half of the population owns guns and 90% believe in God. That is an elitist. That is a man ultimately who wants to take away your guns and tell you to worship him, not a God. 

As a guy who has tinkered with almost every religion on Earth and has found that they all skeeve me one way or another, I admit that I don’t get it. I am far from religious, but I have also never told anyone not to worship their lord. If anything, I’d rather people put their faith in themselves, but I would and have never demanded that anyone be forced or compelled to turn their back on their faith. Just the opposite; I have always promised to scream from the highest mountain top that you have the right to believe anything you want to believe…just don’t attempt to force me to agree with you or demand that your belief system be the law of my land.

On our show, elitism is demonstrated almost every day; but not by me. Dawn constantly demands that because she has experienced a personal epiphany as a result of focusing her mental energy on her physical wellness, that everyone else would feel the exact same way and should therefore be not just encouraged, but compelled to share the identical experience. It’s no different than the alcoholic who stops drinking and awakens months later to find that his outlook on life is one he never imagined before emerging from his cloud to drunkenness and therefore deduces that everyone would have the same reaction if they too were living a life of sobriety. Neither of these examples are true or properly assigned to every single human, yet elitists demand that they must be as their own personal form of self actualization.

Elitists walk amongst us in all facets of our lives; some people who exercise get a high from it and therefore insist that should be the motivation that all people exercise. When the similar high is not felt, the elitist simply demands that you do it longer, better, faster or more often because eventually you will, you must feel the same euphoria they do. And besides, they argue, “it’s good for you.”

And that, when it comes right down to it, is what defines it the most. You are too stupid to know what is best for you and too lazy to act on it even if you do. Therefore, you need what begins as a “nudge,” and ends with a forceful compulsion via force or law; either way, the end result is all that matters.

You will eat as you are told, exercise as often as you are told, drive the correct type of vehicle, engage in only “approved” vices, consume only a certain amount of resources available to us all, and judge no one, for that is the job of the learned. You, after all, are too simply, uneducated and ignorant to be in a position of any sort of decision making, let alone judgment. Only the most wise and well read are qualified to tell people what and how to think and act, with the rare exception of the most experienced. For example, a “reformed” smoker who now demands that smoking be banned is allowed to walk amongst the elites for a purpose no other than the furthering of the agenda. Experienced folks will only be allowed into the elite class in the first place, if, of course they already agree with everything else that has been ordained.

America seems to be fighting back against this ruling class, but there is much work to be done. For decades we have sat by allowing our freedoms and choices to be taken from us at varying rates of speed. For now, as the fight goes on, I am going to continue to drink in the afternoon, exercise only if and when I want to, clean my guns weekly and commute to work in my pick up truck. Sadly, in this sick twisted country we live in, it doesn’t matter if I wear an imported $3000 wool suit or a pair of jeans from Target…as long as I’m driving my truck and toting my guns, I am just another stupid idiot who’s too stupid to know any better.

Shucks.