Regular Joes

This was certainly predictable. In the wake of the successful rescue of the captain of the Maersk Alabama, the ship almost hijacked by pirates off of the coast of Somalia, the usual crowd of arrogant left-elitists are bleating their usual admonitions against those who would presume to lecture their "betters" on matters of public policy. Writes someone named John Boonstra at the UN dispatch blog:

Yes, they were the ones who heroically defended their ship from a full pirate takeover, but it seems a little presumptuous for the crewmembers of the Maersk Alabama to be advising the U.S. president on anti-piracy policy.

A little presumptuous? According to whom? The answer is obvious: according to those who think they have the moral right to govern - the very types that dominate the United Nations, the European Union, and nowadays the United States government.

And just what is "presumptuous" of any American citizen stating his opinion to an elected official? Is that not the whole point of living in a democratic republic - to have a government of those who work for you? Not in the opinion of Mr. Boonstra and his ilk. And many so-called Americans agree with Boonstra.

Remember last October 12, 2008 when a plumber named Joe Wurzelbacher had the gall to question Barack Obama about his proposed tax increases, wondering if such tax hikes might endanger his dream of one day owning his own plumbing business? Wurzelbacher was mercilessly ridiculed by the mainstream media, by brainless Hollywood twits who referred to him as a "douche" (as Jensen Ackles of "Supernatural" recently did), and even by Barack Obama himself, who seemed stunned that a mere prole would question his messianic agenda.

And then there are the legions of ignorant, arrogant pseudo-intellectuals who have criticized Sarah Palin for having committed the crime of being raised a middle-class American, believing in God, and having actually earned her position of authority via merit rather than by flattery, racial set-asides, or the accident of high birth. Last fall, an academic colleague of mine told me she hated Sarah Palin because Palin had supposedly made disparaging remarks about the value of education. Really? Would this be the same Sarah Palin who had two schoolteachers for parents and who herself is a college graduate? From my perspective, that doesn't quite fit the profile of someone who "hates education."

So yes, Mr. Boonstra and all you other elitist dillweeds, I do presume to tell Barack Obama how to run this country because even though I did not vote for him, he works for me. Such is the whole concept behind politics as public service.

And anyone who has a problem with the merchant seamen of the Maersk Alabama because of their supposed lack of a formal education, or with Sarah Palin because of her middle-class background, or the working-class background of her husband, has a problem with me. My late brother, who passed away two years ago at forty years of age, was a construction worker with three years of college. And he was a good family man who loved his wife and children. If that means he was nothing more than a "prole" then I am a prole as well.

And you want to know who else were "proles" by virtue of thinking they had the right and moral obligation to speak out against the elites of their time who saw political power as their sole providence by divine right? The men who wrote this: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Looks like I'm in good company.

Nota Bene:

Gov. Rick Perry came out as a prole today, effectively echoing David Crockett's famous words - telling Barack Obama to go to hell and declaring Texans will keep Texas: