What with all the shenanigans outed from the closet lately, and after
reading Paul Krugman's ditty on the timeliness of Dickens (and
Trollope), I couldn't help but think back to what I was supposed to
learn during my school days. Eight years ago, I was shoveling down a
diet of Jefferson and Franklin and Madison for a semester dedicated to
continental American political thought, e.g., the Federalist Papers and
ilk. Sort of a cheap bastardization of Hobbes and Locke, except in
better English. It was an awkward class: a very motivated, energetic
young professor; jaded undergraduates focusing the bulk of their
concentration on job hunting and the next best happy hour beer special.
The
first month or so focused on the Wheat from Chaff argument. Whether we
were better off being ruled by Philosopher Kings or the common masses.
Tyranny of the majority vs. just plain tyranny. And Jefferson's
compromise: why don't we just educate the masses to make them more like
us smart (white slaveowning classically educated) people. The whole
mess was interesting insofar as a student hadn't ever thought of the
problem before, but it certainly offered no solutions.
And
then, indulging myself in a day of true joblessness, I ordered OnDemand
(thanks comcast) a teeny bopper movie called Sydney White-- a flick
best described as a coming of age melodrama where down-to-earth Tomboy
overcomes the trials and tribulations caused by a corrupt and
self-centered college Beauty-socialite through dint of kindness and an
excellent taste for pink lipgloss. At the end, Ms. Bynes is pitted
against Ms. Socialite for student class president (now there's an
honorific without any true meaning if I ever heard one) and, in true
populist fashion, presents the student body with a surprisingly
eloquent argument against Rule by Plutocracy. Jefferson would have
been proud. Of course, said student body is (unsurprisingly) educated,
colorful and interesting. Drama queens, ROTC soldiers and varsity
athletes...no rednecks to be seen. By rallying such uber-qualified
plebians, Ms. Bynes topples Greek Tyranny for the good of all.
I
suppose we Americans like to think that our form of government can
transcend that of Dickens' age -- we can burn out evil through the
bright lenses of democracy and education. Personally, I can't convince
myself that there's really any difference. Education seems to give
people a tool to cheat the rest of us even more efficiently. From my
perch, I see only that what we've got is a putrid blend of tyranny of
the masses (prop 8, anyone?) and philosopher kings (clintons? Bushes?
hey, didn't say you had to AGREE with the philosophy). And we don't
have the guts to follow through with the one or the other.
