Living in "Idiot America"....

Let's see if I've got this right: parents upset over the idea that President Obama is going to address the schoolchildren of America Tuesday to urge them to study hard and stay IN school are threatening to keep their kids OUT of school so they won't hear that message.

This proves it: We are living in "Idiot America" (see definition below).

Not only do we have a major brouhaha going on over whether the president can address the nation's schoolchildren, but we've got school administrators caving in to objections that I believe are actually generated by extreme right-wing conservatives flooding e-mailboxes with incendiary messages designed to do whatever it takes to gain control of our country.

I guess we're living in spineless America, too.

Maybe those of us who believe schoolchildren ought to hear the "study hard, stay in school" message should also be calling our local school administrators. The White House is going to release the text of the president's speech on Monday, but I suspect there will still be those raising a stink that he could divert from his prepared remarks and politicize the message. If "study hard and stay in school" is a political agenda, I'm for it.

But back to "Idiot America." I went to hear Charles Pierce (who also appears on the wonderful NPR news quiz show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me") talk about his new book "Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free" at a local bookstore last week. This is what he says are the principles of Idiot America:

1) A theory need only sell books or elevate ratings in order to be deemed valid. (This explains how someone like Ann Coulter gets TV airtime on legitimate news programs to continue to spread blatant lies and distortions, such as calling John Edwards a "fag.")

2) "Anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough." (This explains the nut jobs screaming at the health care forums being held during the congressional recess and Sarah Palin's claims about death panels.)

3) A fact is defined as “that which enough people believe. Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it.” (This may explain why otherwise reasonably intelligent people still believe the Internet smear campaign that Obama was not born in the United States.)

OK, I know this rant is overly political but for heaven's sakes, what is happening in our country when Idiot America gets the bully pulpit and people are no longer able to engage in civil discourse? Does anyone consider people screaming epithets at health care forums to be "civil discourse"? Disagree, sure. Disagree fervently, OK. But we've got people screaming about socialism and fascism who couldn't even define those words if their lives depended on it. And yet, they're getting the publicity instead of the millions of Americans who believe there's a problem with our health care system.

I think Charles Pierce may be correct. The people who used to be considered "cranks" that everyone else tolerated or ignored, now seem to be allowed into the mainstream and get shows on Fox.

But I'll go one step further: I believe those cranks are being manipulated by a rabid, far-right conservative movement that will go to any lengths, and that includes loudly spreading bold-faced lies, to take over our government.

If we let that happen, we're the idiots.

So, I say, it's time for a liberal Ann Coulter. I'm willing to take on the job. I just have to lose a few more pounds and make my hair a whole lot blonder. Then I'll start spouting ridiculous (but liberal) lies and use the Internet to spread my propaganda. If I stay on message long enough and loud enough, people will start to believe me and someone will want me to appear on TV. Then there will be an extremely lucrative book deal and six-figure speaking fees.

Maybe it's not so idiotic after all.