The Stupid Party

 

Zippy

Does anyone else remember Zippy the Pinhead? I can’t look at John Fetterman without being reminded of that cartoon character.

Not to mock Fetterman for his recent stroke; but even without it, he would look like Zippy the Pinhead; and the logic of his political positions would seem just as random. And even without the stroke, he would have a remarkably scanty resume for a senatorial candidate. Mayor of a small village; one term lieutenant governor. No significant business or professional experience.

Fetterman

So why did Fetterman, post-stroke, end up the Democratic Pennsylvania senatorial candidate? Can it really be that they had no one better or more visibly sane to put up for election? Apparently so.

The bigger question is why the Democratic Party in the US has such a weak bench. Last cycle, the best they could come up with for President was old Joe Biden, corrupt, a hack, and suffering from dementia. And all they could come up with for Vice President was Kamala Harris, who cannot seem to say anything coherent even with speechwriters. The closest competitor in the primaries seemed to be Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg also seems to be many Democrats’ best hope for 2024. And Buttigieg’s qualification is no more than that he was mayor of a small Midwestern city. Or perhaps they could have chosen Bernie Sanders, older than Biden, unknown before he ran for president, and a senator from a small state. In fact, the second smallest, and one in which even a yellow dog would be elected senator so long as he was a Democrat.

How can it be that, despite the fact that they represent roughly half the population of the US, 150 million odd people, this is the best the Democrats can come up with for leadership?

But it is not so hard to account for if you take into account the fact that half the US population is necessarily of average or below IQ. If they all or almost all vote for the same party, you will have the present Democratic situation: even the leaders will be people of roughly average IQ.  

So the problem of leadership reveals the problem with the Democrats, and the modern left. Their ideas are, as Margaret Thatcher said, simply wrong, and only stupid people buy them. Only stupid people think, for example, that when the government gives out money, it is a generous gift from those politicians, and not coming from their own taxpayer pockets.

Never mind the Republicans in the US. Witness as well the Canadian Liberal Party. The best they can come up with as leader is an impulsive and self-indulgent high school drama teacher. And the word on the Hill is that he is secure in his position, because they have nobody else who could plausibly replace him.

Intelligent people no longer become Democrats, leftists, or Liberals; unless they are on the take.

Unfortunately, unintelligent people rarely know, or accept, that they are unintelligent. Witness the Dunning-Kruger Effect: you need to be smart to know you are smart, but equally smart to know you are dumb. Lots of research shows that, if a gap in IQ exists of more than 15 points, one standard deviation, two minds become mutually unintelligible. The less intelligent will not be able to grasp where the more intelligent is coming from, and is likely to suspect they are crazy or evil. Perhaps a “far-right extremist.”

We are separating out into a smart party and a stupid party. And the stupid party is in power.