Ignoramuses

There's a character in an obscure 17th century play called Ignoramus--an ignorant lawyer. The character has give its name to a class of persons defined as totally or completely ignorant. A news item yesterday made Ned wonder why ignoramuses routinely reach such high levels in a society that seems to pride itself on being a "meritocracy." A few examples: George Bush somehow managed to graduate from Yale, if memory serves Ned correctly, with a "C" average. Now, elite schools like Yale and Harvard rarely award anything but A's, reasoning, Ned assumes (if you can call it reasoning) that anyone good enough to be admitted must be a genius. So Bush's C average was equivalent to a D or F at a typical state school, Ned opines. But this ignoramus ended up as President of the United States, not once but twice, to disastrous consequences as any objective observer would agree. What about his opponent? Gore was a thoughtful intellectual, eminently qualified to be president (and in fact elected in 2000) but was stigmatized and demonized by both his opponent and the "mainstream media" as a lying elitist.
Fast forward to 2008: John McCain graduated at the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy. Some argued that he had been granted admission based on his father being an admiral, but let that pass. And, based solely on his selelction of Palin as his "running mate" he lacked the judgment or statesmanship to be president. Some have argued that political parties have the knack of nominating the only candidates who could lose to his/her opponent. John Kerry comes to mind. But, again, Kerry was a thoughtful statesmanlike man, who had the misfortune to have a very rich wife. Unfortunately, he was demonizable, ironically due to his war service. Being photographed wind surfing in a preposterous body suit didn't help.
Palin obviously lacked any of the the characteristics necessary to be president. That's not only his opinion, Ned argues, but was the opinion of many horrified Republicans at the time. The breathtaking cynicism and opportunism shown by McCain in picking her should immediately have disqualified him, be he got 43% of the vote.
Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar but had feet of clay. A man with great potential but who was demonized from the beginning by Republicans who felt he didn't deserve to have been elected in 1992.
Now we come to General McChrystal, who, if reports are to be believed, had a record number of demerits while at West Point (has Ned got the academy right?) and has had run-ins with authority and the chain of command his whole career. How did he get to be a high-ranking officer, and where are the officers who graduated near the top of their classes?
This country has the self-destructive habit of rewarding incompetence and ignorance, and demonizing reason and intellectual ability.
"The fault lies not in our stars, but in ourselves."