-Caveat Lector- >From http://www.uexpress.com/ups/opinion/column/wb/ On the Right by William F. Buckley Jr. STUPID? IGNORANT? SEDUCED? CONTRARY? The analysis of the problems faced by senators in their upcoming confrontation with impeachment goes on day and night. In a half-day's survey of data floating about, the reader/viewer comes upon a professor who explains that the big difference in the congressional scene is that congressmen are selected from narrowly specified areas and can therefore execute customized mandates. Senators, by contrast, represent amalgams. This fact, the professor concluded, means that the great current popularity of President Clinton (73 percent) will more likely be reflected by the second chamber, which will decline to convict, in contrast to the first chamber, which proceeded to impeach. A second item of the day was an account of Marion Barry's final departure from office as mayor of Washington, D.C. He is planning, one hears, to settle down in Alexandria. This recalls a blurb given by Evelyn Waugh to Nancy Mitford for one of her books. Mr. Waugh did a little biographical summary that ended, "After the war, Miss Mitford voted the socialist ticket. Having done her best to make England uninhabitable, she went to France to live." A third item was an obituary note in The New Yorker on the author William Gaddis. "He found everything artificial and deceptive and conspiratorial -- counterfeit. That was his great theme. After all, Gaddis himself once remarked, 'Stupidity -- and I don't mean ignorance -- is a central issue of our time.'" Is that the right way to describe the rise in popularity of Bill Clinton to the all-time high of 73 percent following upon his impeachment by the majority of the elected legislators in Washington? Note, we are talking here about popularity, not about ouster from office. Something is askew when popularity goes up after a weighty tribunal decides that there is reason to remove someone from office on the grounds that he has lied and tried to obstruct justice. Mayor Barry was caught smoking crack cocaine and after that he was re-elected to a fourth term. What do those popularity figures tell us? Thirty years ago, opposing the then-equivalent of today's motor voting bill (you effect voter registration when you go pick up your driver's license), I was angrily accosted by a public figure who demanded to know just who I thought should not vote. My answer, the 30 percent of Americans who have never heard of the United Nations. That was the figure, in the late '60s, and I don't know what a comparable datum today would hang on --Identify the Civil War? One-third of students asked that question, not long ago, failed to place the Civil War within 50 years of when it happened. In this space a few weeks ago I noted the answers given on a college quiz administered to 27 students, including upperclassmen, to the question, "Name a composer of classical music who wrote music in the 20th century." Twenty-two students out of the 27 couldn't come up with anybody. One named Yanni; one Randy Rhoads (rock guitarist); one, Beethoven; one, Pavarotti. For some reason, William Gaddis refused to name such gentry as ignorant -- he insisted they were stupid. He was wrong, of course. We come now to the mystifying paradox, revealed yet again in an analysis of the educational background of the voters of New York in the last election. Those who had less than high school training tended most heavily to vote Democratic. Those who graduated from high school and from college tended to vote Republican. Ah, but those who went on to postgraduate work tended to vote Democratic. They had presumably sublimated the stratospheric insights of the illiterate class. But we are counseled to focus on the spin factor. If the information is so deployed as to confuse, or to excite irrelevant emotions, then you are not getting a disinterested reading of public opinion. "60 Minutes" recently examined a focus group in which it was documented that Clinton had only to mention "private life" in order to get an acquiescent jolt on the popularity meter. "Perjury" got a negative reaction. These data, it was told, are devoured by the White House before any public pronouncements are made. Read large-screen, this seems to be saying: A lot of Americans have been seduced into thinking that a vote against Clinton is a vote to unlock their bedroom doors. Therefore? Therefore tell Gallup you are pro-Clinton. Some representatives of the ACLU like to bemoan the hypothesis that most Americans would vote against the Bill of Rights if it were proffered as a fresh piece of legislation. But the same kind of people who back the ACLU are enthusiastic these days about the popularity of Mr. Clinton at large. These American intellectuals run into each other at the corner, coming from different directions. How to go? Fatalistically. Remember, only in America, where wonderful things also happen. COPYRIGHT 1999 UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A<>E<>R The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. 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