Salon Interview with Camille Paglia

For the life of me, I don't get this woman's devotion to the Democrat party. She must be an optimist, since her list of grievances (and it is long) will likely never change.

She articulates clearly the average American's (who she identifies as small-business owners who dislike the "nanny state") distrust of all things Democrat:

• No cohesive world-view--simple-mindedness on world geopolitical complexities
  
• Willingness to destroy their own ideology for power--Foley
• Elevating the profane as art
• Using pseudo-intellectual condescension in the Art realm leading people to believe art is for snobs and the superficial--Warhol PBS Documentary
  
• Clinton acting like the "shadow president" and making an ass of himself during the Fox interview with Chris Wallace
• Press collusion with Democrats over whatever suits them--in this case Foley
• Hollywood elite showing contempt for people--Barbra Streisand being Exhibit "A"

She paints a fairly accurate and miserable picture. She also rightly identifies the Bush constituency's frustration with border patrol and illegal immigration, the Iraq war, etc. She worries that Bush's locution reveals his inability to think in big ideas.

She sees Nixonian paranoia creeping into Bush's style. This last observation, I must say, seems a stretch. If I were him, I might be paranoid. I've mentioned this before. I'd be paranoid because everyone does seem out to get me--from lies to damn lies to leaks to betrayal--this President has been on the receiving end of scorn and deceit not only from the usual subjects but from his own. It almost boggles the mind. If he's getting a tad testy that would seem rational--not irrational. I do agree with Paglia that this defensive position is not good for America. And I wonder if Bush's fatigue at being incessantly pummeled is why he's going all rubbery on Iraq.

The whole interview is worth a read. I think she pretty well sums up America today. While America will survive non-funding of the arts because liberal elites refuse to involve the unwashed masses in the culture conversation, America won't survive the relentless drive to destruction because of dithering and debating our value as a country.

Perhaps the most important thing that she doesn't mention, is her own party's self-loathing. How to be an intellectual on this world stage and love America? Evidently, holding those two notions simultaneously is too much for a progressive. The elite seem to be willing to trade their love of country for personal aggrandizement--to be loved by the "thinkers" of the world. They show utter ingratitude and a profound lack of perspective for what America is and has given them.

This contempt for America, epitomized by the deluded Dixie Chicks, plays poorly, to say the least. No one believes that America is above criticism. No one believes Bush is above criticism. Paglia herself cites the areas that conservatives differ with their representatives--especially Bush. This sort of anger and resentment is a whole different kettle of fish than artists humiliating the President, bad-mouthing our country on foreign ground, etc.

I would like to see the Democrats get their acts together, but that would mean a total change of perspective--putting the country first over petty personal desires. The Democrats need to "get" that if America ceases to exist, these silly slap-fights won't matter anyway. It's time for the Democrats to grow up and get serious.