They're not like us, so just get over it, okay?

C'mon, really: How can you insult Indiana voters by being an elitist when these same voters consistently vote 60-40 in favor of Republicans?

Seeing as most of the voters themselves aren't wealthy, and that the GOP regularly acts against their already stunted economic interests, there must be another factor at play so that the chickens will continue voting for Colonel Sanders in spite of all available evidence to the contrary.

Certainly one of the most dully repetitive aspects of the American dumbocracy is the requirement that every four years, candidates for the presidency must go to any length to convince large swaths of the voting public that the candidates are no more intelligent than ordinary people on the street.

In short, that they're just as stupid as voters who observe money and opportunity pouring from their pockets and react by proclaiming that God doesn't want gays to marry. Phenomenons such as that are as grassroots as ragweed, and about as meaningful.

Why the enduring spectacle? Does anyone reading really believe that most of the ordinary people that one encounters every day (myself included) have any business running a country of 300 million people? Or does the very fact that you can read this essay disqualify you from the discussion?

With surreal results, Hillary Clinton has been slugging back shots of redeye and talking about the joy of shooting varmints. Barack Obama went bowling and says he'll think about each and every one of us every day while in office. John McCain charms us with roguish folksiness, but has a wife who earns millions from a disgusting swill dealership and won't let us see the tax returns to prove it.

Perhaps I'm alone in thinking that you shouldn't be commander-in-chief if you're not bright, and if you're bright, you should act bright and not act dumb.

Furthermore, if the pilot of a jet airliner welcomed me aboard by insisting that he's just as ignorant, superstitious and untalented as the people streaming through the gates, I'm turning back to visit the car rental arcade. I know I can't fly the plane, and have no aptitude whatsoever for the skills required to do so; consequently, what I need the pilot to do for me is demonstrate that he can, and does. Don't pander to me by insisting that anyone can man the controls, because I know that's not true. Does that make me an elitist?

If eight years of the village idiot enthroned in the Oval Office doesn't make you seek an above-average skill set to earn the job, then I'm not sure anything can. George W. Bush, the worst president in American history, managed somehow to dumb himself down even lower than the electorate … and the catastrophic results speak for themselves.

I support Barack Obama, but I've nothing against Hillary Clinton, and although John McCain is a Republican and thus ineligible for my vote, he's a war hero and an intelligent man. All three are bright. Can someone tell me what's to be gained from making them dig ditches and quote wretched sit-com dialogue before declaring them worthy?