I've been thinking about something for a long time. I don't care what party or faction they belong to, many people are obsessed, that's right, obsessed about being seen by the rest of the world as legitimate. Some democrats work their hardest to make sure members of their own party get in positions of power (whether presidency, congress or bureaucracy). This obsession goes beyond whether the person will honestly keep their oath of office or will do what is right according to the Constitution or other law. For example, some Arizonans probably got really excited for John McCain when he got the Republican nomination in 2008. Or many Utahns get excited that Mitt Romney might get the current nomination. Or some Alaskans would love if Sarah Palin became a running-mate of one of the nominees. The obsession does not reflect necessarily that the ideas of the candidate are seen as good by the obsessed people, but that the obsessed are legitimized and bask in some shared glory.
Perhaps the people should care more about ideas, stateswomen and statesmen, and goodness than about winning or being validated or legitimized.
This is a sad but true reality. That's partially why "image" is so important to the candidates, and why people like Mitt Romney or Ron Paul are overlooked for their ideas because they're too "weird" or "robotic" or whatever.
ReplyDeleteI was watching Parks and Recreation the other day, and they said "Most people vote with their gut, not their mind." This is a true reality I think. Obama is very likeable on camera; so was Bush. McCain or Gore, not much.
That obsession with legitimacy is stronger at BYU than anywhere else I have ever been. Maybe it comes from having such a high proportion of its population having experiences with other cultures at a young age. I think most other people just assume their identity and status is legitimate (maybe because they haven't had much opportunity to wonder otherwise); people outside of Utah Valley seem much more willing to defend their homes and lifestyles from criticism, even without less reason.
ReplyDeleteEven in places that, by all rights, should be insecure (like the insecure Midwest), given how often they are dismissed by others, my experience is that people are much less insecure or self-critical than in Provo. Maybe with the exception of the white people I met in South Africa, I don't think I've ever met a group of people that are so unhappy with where they live and their culture as Provoans.
I would be really surprised if Alaskans or (especially) Arizonans thought of someone from their state running for a national political office as legitimizing them. They might be pleased that someone from their home was representing them, and they might enjoy (or not) the notoriety, but I don't think legimization even crossed their minds.
That's what is even stranger about the Romney case, since Utahns' claims to him are so tenuous. No one in the media would ever think to connect him to Utah at all except that he's a mormon and that's where mormons live (according to popular wisdom). He has never really lived there except during college, and most other people would think of the Olympic committee responsibility being an olympic matter, not a Utah matter.
Speaking of wanting to be taken seriously, I thought you would get a kick out of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igQlbesF0zA