Harvey Mansfield – Who?- the Self Described Pet Conservative at Harvard Brings Condescension to a New High (or Low)

Not All Votes Should Be Considered Equal - Conservative Voters Are Better Voters Than Obama Supporters

After a massive search effort the Wall Street Journal found a conservative at Harvard that they could present as their Saturday interview.  The person is someone called Harvey Mansfield who first of all exhibits the self-pity of someone who is not taken seriously.

"I live in a one-party state and very much more so a one-party university," says the 80-year-old professor with a sigh. "It's disgusting. I get along very well because everybody thinks the fact that I'm here means the things I say about Harvard can't be true. I am a kind of pet—a pet dissenter."

Ah yes, the finely aged whine of a Conservative, who cannot understand why his generally crackpot ideas are regarded as crackpot ideas.  Of course, as for the "one-party" state was the just recently defeated Republican Mitt Romney a Governor in that state, and wasn't the just recently defeated Scott Brown a Senator?  Oh sorry Harvey, reality is not a part of your world is it?

But Mr. Mansfield waxes poetic as he complains about the stupidity of voters, you know, the ones who don’t vote the way he thinks they should vote.

Consider voting. "You can count voters and votes," Mr. Mansfield says. "And political science does that a lot, and that's very useful because votes are in fact countable. One counts for one. But if we get serious about what it means to vote, we immediately go to the notion of an informed voter. And if you get serious about that, you go all the way to voting as a wise choice. That would be a true voter. The others are all lesser voters, or even not voting at all. They're just indicating a belief, or a whim, but not making a wise choice. That's probably because they're not wise."

By that measure, the electorate that granted Barack Obama a second term was unwise—the president achieved "a sneaky victory," Mr. Mansfield says.

Wow, that sneaky Mr. Obama and his overwhelming victory.  Just goes to show you cannot trust voters in a democracy, not if they aren’t going to vote the way a Harvard professor says they ought.  Gosh Mr. Mansfield you ought to go back to the 18^th century.  We are sure they are beginning to miss you.