Call it Synergy

Several people commented over the weekend on this Washington Times piece, Democrats rethink gun-control stance, not the least of whom was C. Dodd Harris of Ipse Dixit (which got him another Instalanche). Quoted in the comments to Dodd's piece was this paraphrashing of a post on Blaster's Blog:

Some things are beliefs. Those things aren't messages. And if you don't believe those things, your message can't be credible, no matter how good you are at faking sincerity.

And Commoner gets right down to the bullet points:

Mainstream Americans are sick of being told by politicians of all stripes that they're simply not good enough.

While the Republicans are hardly innocent, consider the long list of Democratic positions that are elitist in nature:

School vouchers. What's more fundamental than deciding how your child should be educated?

Citizens shouldn't be allowed to put some of their social security money in the private sector; they're not smart enough to make that decision.

Blacks and Hispanics, no matter how well off, simply can't keep up with white students; they need help. Note that the logical alternative-- basing affirmative action on poverty-- is scoffed at.

California recall. Two major objections to the most direct form of democracy were that it gave the people too much power, and that they were voting for Arnold simply because he was a movie star. Both send an unmistakable message: You're not smart enough to vote. While on the subject of that recall, remember the one debate that Arnold participated in? How many times did Cruz use a variation of, "You don't understand the issue.". If he feels that way about other candidates, how does he feel about you?

The oft-heard talking point that those who support the president in Iraq do so out of ignorance or misplaced patriotism.

Contempt for commercial media. How many times have you heard a Democrat complain about Fox News? It doesn't matter that millions of people watch it every day; they're obviously all deceived dupes.

Indeed, it often seems that the only decision the people can be trusted with is to abort fetuses.

But of course - we're all morons, so the abortion of morons is a net good thing. Nothing should stand in the way of that. The fewer voters there are, the better democracy works.

This all relates back to the reaction to the California recall election so many of us discussed. As the OpinionJournal put it,

If it comes as a revelation to the Democratic Undergrounders that 20% is less than a majority, they're not exactly rocket scientists, are they?

Well, granted the DU denizens aren't in Von Braun's class, but that doesn't stop many of them from being elitists. Other comments from that thread:

I would prefer 20%-25% voter turnout!!!! There are very few people on either side of the aisle who understand the issues! The masses can be so easily mislead that they really should not vote!

I know - maybe they should start giving tests to voters

(T)he public means well, but they are uninformed, reactive, fearful and the part of the brain they are voting with now is reptilian. I could go into the zillions of factors behind this but bottom line is the educational level of 75% of the voter base is approximately 7th grade, beyond this point they have closed off.

It's no good being smarter, better educated, better informed, and a kinder, gentler border collie if you don't know how to herd the sheeple. Obviously, our leaders have lost the herding instinct. We need new blood.

Current shepherd Evan Bayh complains "We (Democrats) cannot be perceived as cultural elitists," but he isn't really interested in not being cultural elitists - just not being perceived that way. Or, as Blaster put it, he's interested in faking sincerity better, as evidenced by "Democratic Pollster" Mark Penn, who was quoted in the Washington Times piece as saying:

"The formula for Democrats is to say that they support the Second Amendment, but that they want tough laws that close loopholes" in current gun laws, Mr. Penn said, adding that polls show the term "gun safety" is received better than the more commonly used term "gun control."

As I wrote earlier when commenting on another Washington Times piece,

"Gun SAFETY" = "Gun ELIMINATION." Just Like "Gun CONTROL" Used to.

Cultural elitists who know what's best for the proles. And in the ultimate irony, they call themselves democrats.

Update: John Moore of Useful Fools links to this SFGate story about the recall and comments on the arrogance of the Anointed.