Morons Will Elect a Moron

Socrates must have met a politician before choosing the poison cup

People are amazing. Alive and vibrant. Masters of what they do. Busy. But only a few of them are interested in understanding what is hiding behind a beautifully presented political promise.

They don’t have time to go down that rabbit hole or follow the lives of politicians and conspiracy theorists. According to an article in The Economist, ‘The voters without degrees are uniquely placed to pick the next president’. Since only thirty-three percent of Americans have college degrees, most of the voters are not well-educated — they are morons as far as their understanding of politics is concerned.

This situation makes me think about William Golding’s 1954 novel “Lord of the Flies.” The book describes the story of a group of young boys who find themselves on a deserted island. They develop rules and a system, but without any adults to control their impulses, the children become a violent bunch. What could have created a difference there?

They needed a wise and mature leader.

What makes us morons

Why do we act like morons when it comes to our political opinions? Let me tell you what I read in this book, “Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)” by Carol Tavris.

Why we act like morons is related to how our brains work. Neuroscientists have shown that our minds have certain thinking biases.

These biases are built into the way the brain processes information about its owners’ political association.

For example, think about the 2004 elections. In a study of people who were being observed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while they were trying to process information about George Bush or John Kerry, Drew Westen and his team found that the reasoning areas of the brain virtually shut down when participants were confronted with information that conflicted with their political opinions. However, the emotion circuits of the brain lit up happily when the information presented was in favor of their chosen candidate.

These mechanisms provide a neurological basis for the observation that once our minds are made up, it is hard to change them.”

“So powerful is the need for conformity that when people are forced to look at disconfirming evidence, they will find a way to criticize, distort, or dismiss it so that they can maintain or even strengthen their existing belief. This mental contortion is called the “confirmation bias.”

Now think about the 1960 elections, Richard Nixon vs. John Kennedy. Lenny Bruce, the legendary American humorist, described what happened in the nation’s very first televised presidential debate:

“I would be with a bunch of Kennedy fans watching the debate, and their comment would be, “He’s really slaughtering Nixon.”

Then we would all go to another apartment, and the Nixon fans would say, “How do you like the shellacking he gave Kennedy?”

And then I realized that each group loved their candidate so that a guy would have to be this blatant — he would have to look into the camera and say: “I am a thief, a crook, do you hear me, I am the worst choice you could ever make for the Presidency!” And even then, his followers would say, “Now there’s an honest man for you. It takes a big guy to admit that. There’s the kind of guy we need for President.

That is how leaders and voters make their political opinions — with emotions and not with reason.

“I will look at any additional evidence to confirm the opinion to which I have already come.” ~ Lord Molson, British politician (1903–1991)

We, the voters, distort information and convince ourselves that our previously confirmed point of view is correct even when there is clear evidence to the contrary.

In other words, if I am a Republican, I will support everything Donald Trump says even when there is evidence that he is not right.

Is democracy the government of the morons, by the morons, for the morons?

If a candidate wants to sell himself and he knows how to sell, he’ll get elected, no matter what. Is that democracy?

Is Trump the leader we are looking for, or is it Joe Biden? The Washington Post’s count says that President Trump has made around 20,000 “false or misleading claims.”

Are we going mad? Are our values breaking down? Are there no good men and women left in this country?

“In a couple of weeks, Idiocracy the movie — not to be confused with: Idiocracy the American President — will celebrate twelve years since its release. The film appeared with zero fanfare back in 2006. The dark comedy’s edgy message — that America was doomed to a future of dystopian idiocy — was deemed too controversial for a major release a dozen years ago, and its distributor, 20th Century Fox, pretty much buried it, showing the film in only a handful of cities.” The Observer wrote in an article.

The belief that our leaders can guide us conflicts with the facts — when we consider the characters of the presidential candidates. In the words of Steve Kull of the University of Maryland, “..some Americans may be avoiding having an experience of cognitive dissonance.”

I read an article in the Guardian that said, ‘Education has become the greatest divide of all — splitting voters into two increasingly hostile camps.’ David Runciman says that the more educated always worry about democracy and its failings. They think that democracy will mean rule by the ignorant, who will use their power to do the dumbest things.

Let’s examine the two candidates for the US presidential elections 2020:

Donald Trump

Most of Trump’s allies accept that he is a moron. He is such a fool that he said Coronavirus was ‘a Democrat hoax’.

‘They all say he is like a child. And what they mean by that is he needs immediate gratification. It’s all about him,’ Michael Wolff said in his book, Fire and Fury. ‘They say he’s a moron, an idiot.’

“I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He is a con man. He is a cheat.” Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen said in his testimony to Congress.

Journalist E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her in her new book. Trump replied, “Number one: She’s not my type.”

We don’t expect a president to be making money. We think of a president to be like the philosopher-king of Plato’s utopia.

Sadly, in a world run by social media, a good marketing campaign can sell anything from leaky condoms to shady presidential candidates.

Joe Biden

Even Joe Biden is not an intelligent, trustworthy, and noble candidate for the presidency. It is his third attempt at the oval office.

Joe Biden is a less dangerous moron. His first presidential bid in 1988 derailed due to his plagiarised speeches when he used words of Neil Kinnock, a British Labor party politician. Biden has also copied phrases from the speeches of Robert and John Kennedy. The idiot — though, he is an Einstein and a Buddha when compared with Donald Trump — had no idea that one day everyone would be able to listen to those speeches on Youtube.

Biden also lied and exaggerated his academic qualifications and IQ. He said he was the only one in his class to have a full scholarship, but later, he admitted that it was a lie. He plagiarized five pages of someone else’s work when he was in law school and got an “F” for that. He also lied about marching in the Civil Rights Movement. Nobody told him to lie — it was his own decision to lie. So when you are voting, and thinking that you are voting for the right guy, think again. You are not voting for the right guy, because both of them are liars — one is a bigger liar than the other. Just choose the lesser evil at this time, and the whole nation has to work to find someone capable of leading the greatest nation on the planet.

“Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”~ Biden

His plagiarizing continues. Biden copied the words from Jack Layton’s last letter before his death in 2011 during his nomination speech. If he is not paying attention to what he says even now, he has to be a moron.

“I have done some dumb things, and I’ll do some dumb things again.” ~ Biden

Who is going to win?

The national polls say that Joe Biden is 10 points ahead of Donald Trump.

As Trump is losing the elections, it is not Joe Biden who is winning. People would have voted for anyone only to ensure that Donald Trump does not remain in the oval office. But Trump is waiting to launch his ‘our votes were stolen’ campaign if the margin of Biden’s victory is a narrow one.

It could have been the time to get out of the moron trap. Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg or Oprah Winfrey or someone with enough money to advertise themselves as the new leader of the nation should have come forward. That person could have gone viral in a day as the new presidential candidate.

The age of viral leaders is about to start. Gone are the days when political careers were built in a lifetime.

Conclusion

The only way not to be a moron will be to act boldly by overcoming the confirmation bias.

It is a hard thing that I am preaching here.

But who would be better than a Republican — who is not a moron — to guide you out of your bias. A statement by Miles Taylor — who is a Republican and has worked with Trump— presents a reasonable solution:

“This election is a two-part referendum: first, on the character of a man, and second, on the character of our nation. That’s why I’m also urging fellow Republicans to put country over party, even if that means supporting Trump’s Democratic opponent.”

In other words, Miles Taylor is telling you to vote for Joe Biden. He believes that Republicans can oppose the policies they don’t like, but the removal of Donald Trump is necessary from the oval office at this time.

You can read my curated stories here.