Today as I was ordering a Greek salad at Atlanta Bread Co., a late middle aged woman asked me if I was "still at St. Petersburg College." At first I was perplexed. I do not know this woman. I teach at St. Petersburg College, but something about the tone of her voice made me feel quite skeptical.
Then, upon refusing to answer, she re-stated the question. The truth of her intent then became known. This middle aged woman was asking me not if I taught at the local college, but was wondering if I was still a student at St. Petersburg College!
Upon her line of reasoning being unveiled, I looked at her and said, "Excuse me?" Then I stated somewhat intrepidly, "I have two master's degrees from Duke University and three years of Ph.D. studies."
I am still unsure whether or not this lady's query was an innocent mistake or whether or not she was trying to belittle a man nearing her age. I am, after all, thirty seven years old, not to mention having a full beard.
After sitting down with my Greek salad I was reminded of how in 1989, when I was only 17 years old, Tianamen Square in China pitted Chinese intelligentsia against the forces of communism. Egalite' so said the French Revolutionary! "All resources are to be controlled by the state" so did the Communist Chinese Revolutionary continue such false egalitarianism. But, in the end, "equality" is never quite equal, now is it?
"Equality" is often a thin veneer for toppling aristocracy.
"Equality" is also a "code" for denying "Equal Opportunity based upon merit!"
"Separate, but equal" proved to certainly be 'separate,' yet never quite equal.
And so, in the current trend towards socialist ways of the American populace, a new uprising will now occur. An uprising on behalf of Christianity. Yes, all men and women are created equal. But such equality (so the Jewish and Christian traditions embody) does not equal societal power independent of Virtue. Virtue, not the Chinese communist tank aimed at the solo protester, guides the founding of Republican political theory. Plato's key text on this issue, The Republic, serves as a foundation for all later Western political theory. It is by Virtue that a nation or city-state is to be led. Virtue such as courage guides the military. Virtue such as thrift guides the mercantile class. Virtue, intellectual virtue, such as prudence will guide the aristocratic political leadership class. But, and here is where the U.S. has made its "fatal error," Virtue had for a time vanished from political rule.
The woman who simply assumed that a man would be "barely finishing his associate's degree" at the age of 37 is in error. The scholar (Plato's "Philosopher-King") is to be re-instated, not by force, not by persuasion, but simply by social convention.
Harvard University Law School produced Barack Obama and now the White House is occupied by Plato's "Philosopher-King." Sadly, however, due to openly denying opportunity to persons of superior intellectual ability, the U.S. economy, rather than toppling itself will simply shift! Gone are the days of "good-ole boy G.O.P." networking in which a man like Karl Rove (who truly does not have an undergraduate degree) can ascend the ladder of political influence. In the New America, prosperity will reign. The salesperson, the under-educated man, will be forced to sell, sell, sell and sell, sell, sell she or he shall do. But, and as Plato's tri-partite view of the soul as a microcosm of society dictates, the salesperson shall serve the military and its interests, and the "top of the Pyramid" will no longer be a "bunch of good 'ole boys" who barely made it out of undergrad (if even that!), but instead the political top of the pyramid will be based upon merit. G.R.E. Scores. L.S.A.T.'s. Duke. Harvard. Yale. Princeton.
The "masses" will be the ones to now work at the bottom of the heap, hawking their wares.
The truly courageous will serve valiantly on distant shores as U.S. Military Personnel.
But, and as the 2008 election demonstrated, the "Top of the Pyramid" will be occupied by the scholar-activist. Barack. Harvard. VICTORY. McCain. Palin. Tragic flaw in G.O.P. reasoning. Barely passing the Naval Academy really ended up being no match for a Summa Cum Laude from Harvard Law School.
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