This is an interesting editorial/book review about a topic I’ve blogged about before. As a people, we have come to an “interesting” time where we view intellectuals with disdain and distrust. Especially in politics, we seem to want leaders who would look right at home on a barstool at the local pub rather than ones who feel at home going toe-to-toe with their peers at the G-8 Summit. We want leaders who are physically tough (or tough by proxy when wielding our military), but shun those who have the intellectual capacity to maybe keep us out of the conflict in the first place. We even hurl the term “elitist” as an epithet. Yet curiously, we don’t use the term to mean they have unwarranted pride in being a member of a select group. We use it to mean simply that they are a member of that group, and more importantly, we’re not.

We worship people who can play football better than we might ever dream to do ourselves. Why can’t we at least respect those who think at a different level than we do? Personally, I want a leader that’s demonstrably smarter than me. I’ve been to the local pub. There’s rarely anyone there I’d follow to the AM/PM Market for a late night burrito, much less someone I’d follow as the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth.