Stupidity Applied

Pop Quiz: Who said: “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”

How about: “The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”

Levels 1-5 are populated by the sort of dullards that are targeted by political parties seeking to register voters. Generally they can be counted on to vote without engaging in such mundane activities as understanding the issues or trying to ascertain exactly what each candidate actually stands for. There is only one thing that matters: Is the candidate’s name followed by an R or a D.

Level 6 demonstrates the role propaganda plays in modern politics. As the NYT masthead says: All the news that fits we print. The MSM mascot should be the Pied Piper. For this crowd “critical thinking” means imagining something bad to say about someone.

Sobered by this we move to the exit and the escalator which will carry us, with some trepidation, to Level 7.

The first sound we hear is a calliope which conjures up the image of arriving at a circus. The first thing we see is a gigantic marquee welcoming one and all to Bernie’s Amusement Park and Authoritarian Museum. There is a large banner displayed overhead paraphrasing Raold Dahl: Where some of your dreams become realities and all your realities become nightmares. Welcome to Socialismland.

As we move about the Level we look for the clues that allow the Democrat politicos to identify and appeal to truly stupid voters. While they appear to value IQ and academic pedigree they prefer people who are unable to anticipate collateral damage and unintended consequences. If you see someone totally surprised by a logical and predictable outcome of a policy you are looking at the perfect voter. It is rarely as obvious as drinking aquarium cleaning solution to address the Chinese Red Death (credit to Chris Plante) or AOC’s incredulous reaction to a garbage disposal.

Socialism provides the best laboratory test of what we should call “just plain dumb”. The younger generations believe with all their hearts (no minds involved here) that what the world needs is more socialism. Probe gently at their passion and it becomes clear that they cannot even define the terms socialist, fascist or Nazi. And if you explain to them that taxes will be required to fund the cornucopia of freebies their enthusiasm wanes quickly. As PJ O’Rourke said: “If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until it is free.”

The now concluded Democrat campaign was akin to watching the auction for votes. Tuition free college, college debts cancelled, free healthcare for all and extra IQ points at no additional cost. The only conclusion that is inescapable is that no Democrat can grasp simple math. To watch them avoid having to put a price tag on their promises is like watching a world class dodge ball team.

The only thing that appears not to be free is thinking. Everything these folks do is synchronized and there is no tolerance for any dissenting opinions. Try questioning any of the left wing commandments and you will be greeted with a chorus of epithets: racist (no illegal immigration), misogynist (opposition to abortion up the age of three), xenophobic (describing the Chinese virus as Chinese), Islamophobic (suggesting the ISIS is other than a Quaker sect) or homophobic (suggesting the AIDS is predominantly a gay issue). One is reminded of George Carlin’s priceless question: “If one member of a synchronized swim team drowns, do they all have to drown?”

The real skill set among the talking heads on Level 7 is the ability to completely ignore the well documented and irrefutable failure of every attempt to make socialism work. Apparently the more a theory or program crashes and burns the more readily those who have received intelligence bypasses embrace the failed philosophy. Venezuela went from poster child for socialist success to socialist dumpster fire and the left seamlessly moved on without even an explanation of what went wrong. Yet socialism continues to be catnip to the denizens of Levels 1-5!

Our guide Fredo had been roped into a game of Stupid Jeopardy and he was cleaning up but we pried him away and moved toward the exit to Level 8.

At the bottom of the escalator we are surprised to note that this was the smallest of all the Levels as measured by area. The reason becomes clear when we are told that the theme of Level 8 is Federal Government success stories.

We asked to see the exhibit for winning World War II and the ultimate defeat of Fascism, Maoism and Communism. The person we asked was mortified at the very suggestion that the victory was a success story. We were, after all, responsible for the internment of US citizens of Japanese heritage, failing to stop the Shoah and dropping the nuclear bomb over Hiroshima. Clearly all of these actions were driven by racism and white supremacy and were, therefore, indefensible. Hardly a success story.

The Level was divided into four sections: healthcare (Medicare and Medicaid), the war on poverty, social security and Federal regulations or as Obama described them, Federal “protections”.

America has always had the best medical care system in the world. Alas many Americans felt that with a bit of fine tuning by a bureaucratic network, perhaps by those who run the Veteran’s Administration, it could only get better. And after all didn’t Cuba have free healthcare for all? The Cuban system is so good that when Castro faced a serious medical crisis they flew a renowned specialist in from Spain. When Mick Jagger needed heart surgery he eschewed the National health care system of the UK and flew to the US for his procedure. Maybe he found the 6-8 month waiting period off-putting. Try to find stories about Americans fleeing to Canada to take advantage of that nation’s health care system.

The real eye opener for our citizens is the cost of “free care”. The original Medicaid legislation passed in 1965 projected the cost for the second year would be $400 million. In fact it came in at $1.1 billion. That is a 175% miss. Obamacare was even worse. It was designed to bring 20MM people into the healthcare system but only 11MM were actually added. And about 20MM people lost their medical insurance. Do the math!

The War on Poverty was driven by Lyndon Johnson a man who had a pathological inability to comprehend the law of unintended consequences. When you pay people to have children out of wedlock you will get, not surprisingly, more children. And when you penalize a mother if the father of the child marries the mother you will, again not surprisingly, have more single family households. Apparently this came as a complete surprise to the not very bright 36th President. Even today more than 70% of black children live in single parent homes, a recipe for failure.

Charles Ponzi is villainized to this very day. When Bernie Madoff stole $17 billion, it was described as a Ponzi scheme. Ponzi is infamous but he and Madoff were pikers compared to FDR who created the granddaddy of all Ponzi schemes…the Social Security system. Ida Fuller was the first recipient of social security payments and she contributed a grand total of 17 cents into the system. She then proceeded to live to the age of 100 collecting just under $23,000. That would make Ponzi proud. Today the projected unfunded liability for the system for just the next 10 years is $1.7 trillion.

Ronald Reagan noted that the nearest thing to eternal life is a Federal regulation. The panoply of regulations adds billions to the cost of doing business in the US. It is fair to say that every American violates at least one of the thousands of Federal regulations at least once every year. Here is the link to the directory of federal bureaus and agencies. Prepare to weep. https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies

From 1897 to 1996 we had a Board of Tea Appeal which included tea tasters. We are not kidding, look it up. That is the sort of thing that inspired Lewis B. Carroll.

The full tour of this Level took very little time while inducing a significant level of frustration. Not a success story in the lot. Not surprisingly there was not one hint that the US Post Office (one of the original cabinet offices) was a success story. Yet the politically stupid retain a childlike faith in our overseers in Washington

We gather up a terminally bored Fredo and head off to the lowest Level of the sub basements.

Suddenly Fredo’s mood changes from bored to ebullient and halfway down the escalator he dons a dunce cap. He is going home. The Ninth Level is entered through a stone arch that is engraved with the words: DNC Hall of Fame.

The greeter is none other than Joe Biden in full campaign mode and wearing an orange jacket. His ID tells one and all that he is the special needs candidate for President of (Fill in the blank). Jill is about six feet away holding his leash and diaper bag.

We are reminded that stupidity is contagious and most of the people on this level are carriers. We decline masks because we have built up an immunity from our passage through Levels 1-8.

The Level is dominated by statues of the Democrat anti-intelligentsia heroes. Near the entrance is Harry Reid in full scowl with his hand grasping a tiny piece of paper with his speaking notes. His plaque notes that he is only clinical moron ever to be Senate Majority leader. Word is that Chuck Schumer hopes to steal that honor.

And there is Elizabeth Warren in full Sioux headdress doing her imitation of Calvin Coolidge. In her hand is the small abacus she used to calculate the cost of her healthcare plan. The answer came back as Lots! Nearby is Nancy Pelosi standing in front of her industrial strength freezer filled with gelato. The inscription is: Let them eat ice cream. Further along we find Ilhan Omar exchanging marriage vows with her brother. Eric Swalwell can be seen reading a book entitled: Understanding Sarcasm and Using it as Evidence. At each of these statues you can grab a FREE bobble head doll, the national symbol of blind loyalty.

We stumble across a small kiosk which offers the opportunity to have the complex made simple. We learn that the global climate system is totally dependent on CO2. That the world economy can be controlled by a cadre of bureaucrats with green eye shades and pencils without erasers. Reaching the goal of equal outcomes is merely a matter of passing the right laws. Apparently any complexity causes catatonia which cries out for a simple fix.

There is, inexplicably, a statue of Paul Ehrlich who did his PhD dissertation on butterflies thereby qualifying a lepidopterist to be a certified doomsayer. He, Al Gore and the IPCC are presently tied for the most erroneous predictions since the Eisenhower Administration. AOC is, however, closing hard. Never right but never in doubt.

In the center is a large screen with a true-false quiz to test the knowledge of the crowd. Here are some of the questions:

A Democrat member of Congress predicted that overpopulation of Guam could cause the island to flip over!

An elected Democrat has opined that the corona virus is racist because of its disparate impact on people of color?

A Democrat member of Congress asked NASA to drive the Mars rover over to see the flag our astronauts planted?

A Democrat blamed the extinction of the unicorn on climate change? Just seeing if you are paying attention!

A Democrat candidate once campaigned in all 57 states?

An elected Democrat once argued that owning a gun is not a right because if it were it would be in the Constitution?

A Democrat candidate said that his party believed in truth and not the facts?

On a nearby table are guns with a single bullet so you can end it all after a visit to Level Nine.

The quotes are from Isaac Asimov and Joseph Stalin. The second can be found in the Democrat Presidential Platform.