Below is an account of my experience as an observer at the Missouri state House of Representatives on April 7, 2010, taken from a message I sent to a House member not involved in following incident. The discussion pertained to a "state sovereignty" resolution being debated. "REP[Daniel] Nieves" is the legislator pushing this particular matter. (And yes, I have sent his official a copy of the original message.)
The point of this, as the subject suggests, is to show just how stupid--ignorant--conservatives tend to be. Liberals play the "uneducated" label against conservatives. This is an anecdote as to why it works. And it will continue to work until people holding traditional views and values start actually taking these things seriously.
I'm not confident.
MESSAGE:
My complaint is about [REP Nieves'] performance in the session this morning. After a fine job of calling the one lady rep on her "living, growing" Constitution slip, he reverts to utter ignorance. Two examples:
1. REP Nieves and another fellow got into a worthless back-and-forth all built around the STUPID MISTAKE offered by the other fellow that the phrase, "All men are created equal," is in the Constitution, with the other fellow having ignorantly built up a huge constitutional schematic around its alleged presence there. REP Nieves, who claims he's read the Constitution more than once, not only failed to cut him off on the error--and thus save them both embarrassment--he moved right along with it. It took a Democrat to explain the basic fact of civics that the phrase is in the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution. That Democrat deserves credit for perfect sarcasm and successfully making your Republican colleagues look like idiots. (Honestly, I thought about applauding at his point!)
2. REP Nieves was asked a question from someone on his own side of the aisle. She raised a point of how his precious resolution has basic writing errors that any two-bit secretary would get fired for making, and then asked about a particular section of it, on which REP Nieves "punts." So not only did REP Nieves put forward a resolution that is flawed in its structure, but also one that he himself doesn't understand. He ought to have things like a resolution proofread several times by people who didn't sleep through high school English class, and make sure he knows what the H*** it is on which he's asking people to vote!
And he did all of this after leading with his opinion on how ignorant the other side in Washington is!!
... [T]he other side seeks to portray the conservative/Right, whether it be Sarah Palin, Tea Party activists, or "militia"-types, as "uneducated," "ignorant," etc. When our side's elected leaders do what REP Nieves did today--and this is far from an isolated incident--it not only gives them ammunition, it probably--from an objective viewpoint--proves them correct.
... I don't know if you're still reading this, or if I have offended you off, but either way, this sort of thing WILL catch up with us. I'm not talking about style or syntax--I believe "ain't got no" should be universally-recognized standard English--I'm talking about the factual substance. If a person is too "busy" to study up on things like this, they have no business leading.
Sarah Palin recognizes gaps in her knowledge base, and she is studying and learning. REP Nieves--and a whole slew of others--need to follow her example.
Sincerely,
Lee T. Walker,
Someone who has had his fill of stupidity from his own side.