Midwestern, lower- to middle-class Americans, like myself, often like to ask questions. Not just questions like “Is there anything sweeter than a camouflage SIU baseball hat?” But tough questions, like “Why did the 2004 election go the way it did?” and “Who is to blame for pretty much every problem in America?”

A conservative propaganda group known as Citizens United has started raising money on their Web site citizensunited.org to put up billboards saying “Thanks Hollywood. W Still President.” The billboards will feature a large picture of the president along with pictures of several celebrities who campaigned against Bush.

Obviously, they are trying to say that somehow in campaigning against Bush, “Hollywood” inspired Middle America to vote for Bush, just out of spite. Conservatives love to blame Hollywood for just about anything they can. The terms “Hollywood Elite,” “Media Elite” and “Liberal Elite” are favorites of pundits when they are about to start trying to tell Middle Americans who is to blame for their problems and “who’s looking out for you.”

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But pundits like Bill O’Reilly, Anne Coulter and Rush Limbaugh are about as close to the Middle American blue-collar voter as Paris Hilton. They love to create this illusion that any person who takes a liberal stance and uses their fame for a cause are out of touch with reality and they don’t know anything about the rest of America. The funny thing is it applies only to liberals. Why aren’t Arnold Schwarznagger, Charlton Heston or Mel Gibson considered “Hollywood Elite?” Not rich enough?

It’s really disgusting because the people so quick to label the elites rarely come from a blue-collar or Mid-American background. O’Reilly grew up in a posh suburb called Westburry and went to private schools, Ann Coulter’s dad was a wealthy corporate lawyer whose company undercut unions, and Limbaugh’s family includes four prominent lawyers. They’re wealthy and always have been, and the policies they support only help the wealthy.

So why do they get to pretend to be looking out for blue-collar Americans? Why do we fall for it?

For a simple answer you can look to the basic Machiavellian principle that, in politics, appearance is more important than reality. Bill O’Reilly is a big, tough-looking Irish guy who tells people to shut up when he doesn’t like what they’re saying. He doesn’t have time for “evidence,” “reason” or “facts.”

It’s the same with Schwarzenagger, Heston and Gibson. They look and act like tough guys and therefore can’t be “elite.” On the most basic, and superficial, levels, the average man relates to them. In the absence of being able to believe a political figure based on what he or she says, people start to believe it based on the way they say it.

The bottom line is these conservatives are like the Ja Rule of political pundits, rapping about the streets without ever having spent a day in them.

It’s time Middle America started really asking, “Who’s looking out for you?” and realizing conservatives aren’t.

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