More Thoughts on the Innocence of American Voters

This morning I recalled that during the run-up to the 2000 presidential election, after I warned an old friend about some of the dangers Bush's candidacy posed for the United States, my friend replied that he himself wasn't concerned. In fact, he said, he respected and appreciated that someone like Bush (a member of the privileged class) was willing to make the sacrifice of running for office in order to serve our country. Readers of this blog may find it hard to believe that I didn't rub this in my friend's face when he later admitted that he could see now that Bush isn't even qualified to serve as dog catcher.

After recalling this, I realized that my friend's appreciation for a member of the privileged class's being willing to serve his country (rather than just exploiting his privilege to enjoy life) is an extremely good example of the "innocence" that I believe afflicts American voters...and American (and other) religiously faithful. Some things are just too inconceivable for the innocent to entertain as possible:

That one's holy book could actually mean it when its words seem to incite the faithful to stone a backslider to death.

That a member of the privileged class could make the huge sacrifice of running for high political office without an honorable reason for doing so.

That the president of a civilized, enlightened country like the United States of America could be a moron. (But this same "president" is reported in this morning's paper to be affirming that "absolutely we're winning" [in Iraq].)

That the vice president of the same country could actually mean it when he endorses water-boarding. (Yet he is reported in the same paper to have confirmed yesterday that indeed "U.S. interrogators subjected captured senior al-Qaeda suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called 'water-boarding,' which creates a sensation of drowning," and to have reaffirmed his endorsement of the "technique"—"the Bush administration doesn't regard water-boarding as torture.")

That a senator of the same country (North Carolina's Elizabeth Dole) could be doing more than ordinary political lying (putting her spin on things) when she says (as also reported in this morning's paper), "We'll keep the majority in the Senate." (Hint: Mrs. Dole may know something the rest of us don't about how electronic voting machines are going to behave on November 7.)

While it's true that I really did not rub my friend's naivete in his face at the time, I guess it may seem as though I'm doing that now. But I'm not. This innocence is...well, so innocent. We should be gentle with the innocent. For we too are innocent on occasion.

For example, perhaps we still believe that the United States of America, which is pretty clearly among the most civilized and enlightened of nations, really is all that civilized and enlightened....