NP: Joshua Redman, Compass

Bill Maher hits the nail squarely on the head in last week's "New Rules" segment, but he doesn't take the argument far enough. I've been talking for years about how my expectations for other people, in the abstract, have shifted over time from optimism (people are fundamentally good) to pessimism (people are fundamentally bad) and finally to cynicism (people are fundamentally stupid). The main point of this statement is with regard to how I expect people to behave when presented with the details of everyday life, and this is where I typically extend Maher's point into the political realm.

The issue, politically, is not that people are stupid. The issue, really, is that some will readily take advantage of an ill-informed, incurious population in fairly despicable ways. I'm sure I've said it before, but I've always found this to be the core of the Karl Rove approach. He knew that most people were either too busy, lazy, dumb or insulated by ideologically-based media sources to ever question what they hear, so all he ever needed to do was introduce some meme into that combination echo chamber/petri dish and watch it grow. I think we've seen how even the most outlandish claims can thrive in that environment.

Unfortunately, I don't know how you work yourself out of this disconnect, except to plead with some of the other adults in the room to step forward. So far that hasn't worked, so sooner or later, I suspect President Obama is going to have to start talking to the nation like we're a bunch of 5-year olds, at least until the 5-year olds split off to form their own inconsequential political party, which I still think may happen sooner rather than later.