May 9, 2008 By Bret Moore 4 min read

H.L. Mencken’s famous quote that nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public is as true today as it ever was. However, I like to think that no politician ever went unelected doing the same.

In fact, politicians count on the ignorance and apathy of voters. Our collective disdain for academic achievement and empirical rationalism have created an environment in which any buffoon who tells the American people what they want to hear can get elected – heck, maybe even to the presidency.

However, I’m tired of people blaming the politicians. The fault lies not with them, but with the people themselves who refuse to become educated beyond the tired rhetoric and tribal labels provided to us by talk radio and Fox “News.”

Therefore, of all the disgusting drivel spewed by today’s politicians, none sticks in my crawl more than “The American people are too smart for that,” or its moronic sister statement, “The American people aren’t dumb.”

Thank goodness our “Education” President understands the problem as he opines, “The illiteracy level of our children are appalling.”

We laugh at Jay Leno segments in which the ignorance level of the American public reaches mind-boggling levels. We chuckle at the stupidity of a beauty pageant contestant as she struggles to find an answer to a simple question. We even have a highly rated television show that celebrates the fact that many among us are dumber than a fifth grader.

Our culture has always been fascinated with dim-witted people. However, we laughed at The Three Stooges and Lucille Ball. No one wanted to be them. Children didn’t aspire to be Larry, Moe or Lucy. Today, we celebrate stupidity and educational dysfunction as something cool and benignly humorous. The American Dream is defined by the freedom to remain clueless.

Anyone who wishes to be elected, marketed or even liked is afraid to appear “too smart.” This culture of no culture is perpetuated by rappers, country singers, pop stars, talk show hosts, movie producers and politicians.

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, those in charge condense the 10 Commandments of Animalism into one simplistic phrase: four legs good, two legs bad. The majority of the animals were not capable of grasping the tenants of any philosophy that required complex thought. Much the same as Americans today who cling to simplistic platitudes to defend their political opinion.

In Orwell’s classic novel 1984, the “proles” were mollified with alcohol, sex and football. They were roused when needed to primitive patriotism by propaganda and music. Does any of this sound familiar?

So if your view of the world can be summed up on a bumper sticker, on a ball cap, or in a Toby Keith song, this rant’s for you.

The next time a politician or celebrity misspeaks, mis-remembers or mis-underestimates, understand that it is the collective ignorance of the American people that allows them to do so with impunity.

The funniest thing about this column is that everyone who reads it will agree with my premise … about the dummies on the other side of the issues.

Every once in a while, a politician accidentally speaks the truth in a candid moment among perceived friends or to a educated subgroup. As soon as that quote leaks and hits the media, the backtracking begins. The candidate’s spin doctors say that the quote was taken out of context, or he or she didn’t mean it the way it came out.

Just once, I would love to experience that moment we have only seen in movies, where the candidate actually breaks down and explains the hard realities of a situation or admits that the intricacies of a problem are beyond easy answers. Of course, you won’t see that because he/she would lose the election.

Why have intelligence, thoughtfulness and education become pejoratives associated with elitism? I don’t want the good ol’ boy I’d like to have a beer with deciding our economic, educational, environmental and security issues.

I want the smartest “nerd” in the class to confer with every other “nerd,” “egghead,” Poindexter” and “dweeb” he can round up and find solutions to our problems.

In 1956, Presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson was told he had all the thinking people on his side. His sadly insightful reply was, “That’s wonderful, but I need a majority.”