Pop Quiz
What international leader said: “Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.”?
What American author said: ‘Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”?
What British scientist said: “Do not indoctrinate your children. Teach them how to think for themselves, how to evaluate evidence, and how to disagree with you.”?
What American newsman said: “The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself”?
What comedian said: “Governments don’t want a population capable of critical thinking, they want obedient workers, people just smart enough to run the machines and just dumb enough to passively accept their situation.”?
Answers at the end of the post.
The 2026 mid-term elections are a depressing chapter in the devolution of our Republic. Take for example the Senate race in North Carolina. The Republican Michael Whatley is the icing on a dull and boring cake. His opponent is Roy Cooper who has a resume that is devoid of any merit based achievement during his 69 year life. They might as well be Gumby and Elmer, such is the tint and tone of their campaign communications. We can glean this from their advertising that their respective opponents are both integrity challenged and have “hired” pedophiles and other miscreants to work for their campaigns.
Here is the challenge…parse their ads and find one that actually discusses the issues that the electorate should be interested in or proposes an idea for addressing those issues. Cooper, who has the IQ of a kumquat, tried to make Biden and Kamala look like geniuses by announcing that he had a plan “to make everything cheaper”. You have to admire someone who never passes up an opportunity to remind us how dumb he is.
The United States was founded by men who embraced the ideas of the Enlightenment, The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are based entirely on those ideas The Federalist papers, which were written to support the ratification of the Constitution, is a tutorial on ideas about good governance. The government that governs least, governs best.
Over our 250 year history there have been elections that were based on a serious debate about issues and the candidates presented prescriptive ideas for addressing those issues.
1860: The issues were slavery, the burden of tariffs on the Southern economy and the westward expansion of the country. Lincoln spoke publicly on these issues during the Lincoln-Douglas Senate debates in 1858 and his Cooper Union address in 1860. This election gave us Abraham Lincoln and forever changed the nation.
1912: The first election involving a national Progressive platform. The issues were a proposed Federal income tax, direct election of US Senators and Wilson’s New Freedom which proposed the use of the power of the government to address “social justice”. Theodore Roosevelt ran as a candidate on the Ego Party ticket, thus ensuring the election of Wilson. There was a vigorous public debate about the various ideas and solutions put forth by the candidates to address these issues.
1980: Inflation was 13.5%, Iran was in chaos and the Cold War was heating up. Reagan proposed tax cuts to jump start the economy and thankfully Carter ran on his dismal record. The most interesting debate was between Carter campaigning in the South and his alter ego Carter campaigning in the North. The electorate responded enthusiastically to the ideas put forth by Reagan.
That was the last national election that was based on a public debate about issues and ideas.
1992: Throughout our history national campaigns included some level of mudslinging but it never reached the level achieved in the sticks and stones strategy of team Clinton in 1992. While they were feverishly tamping down the “bimbo eruptions” and hoping Jennifer Flowers would be kidnapped by aliens the Democrats tried to compare the post-Reagan economy to that of 1929. Neither HW Bush nor Clinton proposed any new ideas for improving the lot of the American voters. George Will summed Clinton up with this observation: “He was not the worst President we ever had but he was the worst man who was ever President”.
In 1992 the national media took an active role in ensuring ideas were not part of the campaign. Bush was ridiculed for not knowing about scanning at the grocery store…an out of touch elitist. The personal peccadillos of the Clintons from cattle futures to the Whitewater scandal to the Many Loves of Dobie Clinton were airbrushed from the public canvas. This media meddling has been an earmark of every national campaign ever since.
The parties have assisted in the dumbing down of our elections by nominating a string of intellectual mediocrities. W in 2000 was described by the media as a dope and he was “selected not elected”. His speechifying was said to be an embarrassment to the English language. Obama was nothing more than a not very bright man who could flawlessly read a teleprompter and Biden…enough said. Pop quiz: Identify three ideas generated by these three Presidents that had any positive impact on the issues we faced during their terms in office. Times up…nothing.
In 2016 Trump actually held rallies across the country to discuss ideas for fixing problems such as immigration, the abject failure of Obamacare and the energy “crisis”. The media immediately focused all attention away from his proposed solutions and onto his personal life, his non-existent “White Supremacy” and his “shady” business practices. It is telling that team Clinton worked assiduously to divert the attention of the voters because Hilliary was unable to respond effectively to Trump on the issues.
The quadrennial debates have became a Mexican birthday party with the Republican playing the role of pinata. It is as if most of the questions are drafted by the National Enquirer or the DNC The attitude of the media was exposed when J.D. Vance asked Martha Radatz after one of her typically inane observations: “Do you hear yourself?” Not only are they devoid of self-awareness but they are also unable to understand serious issues that are staring them in the face. In addition they, like the EPA, are not the least bit interested in finding solutions to issues, real or imagined.
Perhaps it suggests that we are lurching toward a kakistocracy. What serious person would ever volunteer to subject themselves, their families and their friends to the body cavity searches conducted by the media? Why would a person who is burdened by intellectual curiosity and a desire to solve problems run for office? Who in their right mind would ever appear on The View to engage in a battle of wits with such vacuous minds as Joyless Behar, Caryn Johnson and Sunny Hostin? A battle of wits with intellectual conscientious objectors.
This explains the host of completely forgettable candidates we get to vote for: James Talarico, Abdul Al-Sayed, Kathleen Hochul, Kamala Harris and Graham Platner, Decisionally challenged people of no accomplishment and no intellectual depth. Hochul was actually begging millionaires who had fled the crippling New York income tax rates to return so they can be taxed to pay for her social bribes/programs. Governor Hochul…can you hear yourself.
The foregoing begs the question: What personal qualities should we be looking for in our political class?
- Transactional experience in a competitive environment.
- The ability to identify issues and the desire to find solutions to those issues,
- Good communication skills and the willingness to engage in open debate.
- At least 15 years of experience in the real world following graduation and no professional political experience.
- Provide a complete financial disclosure for candidate and spouse.
- Complete disclosure of litigation history as plaintiff or defendant.
A modest proposal: Any potential candidate is over 40 must be disqualified if they still live with their parents.
Answer to the pop quiz:
We also need to pass a Constitutional Amendment establishing term limits for service in Congress. No person may serve in the United States Congress for more than 12 years.
What international leader said: “Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.”?FDR’s pal Uncle Joe Stalin
What American author said: ‘Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”? Samuel Clemens
What British scientist said: “Do not indoctrinate your children. Teach them how to think for themselves, how to evaluate evidence, and how to disagree with you.”? Richard Dawkins
What American newsman said: “The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself”? H. L. Mencken
What comedian said: “Governments don’t want a population capable of critical thinking, they want obedient workers, people just smart enough to run the machines and just dumb enough to passively accept their situation.”? George Carlin