Are we too anti-intellectual in our politics?

I am catching up on articles from places which I was not seeing for a while and have noticed one from C. Ford Runge in MinnPost on Thursday last in which he pans what he perceives as Governor Palin’s anti-elitism.

He states that the Alaska governor has established a new standard in American politics: "dumb as me"

Intellectuals have been bewailing anti-intellectualism in politics for as long as they have been around. They sometimes are correct. After all, one cannot ever go wrong attacking the elite, whoever the elite actually are.

Intellectuals often feel superior by what they know and the dumb as me folks refuse to become intimidated by them [an attitude which can be confused as a reaction to an intimidation].

But both sides and the rest of us need to remember that we need to have open minds when we look at public affairs regardless of which side we are on.

Perhaps Runge’s article might be a place to start thinking of some of this. And, then again, it may just be a piece of gobbledegook.