Intelligence, Common Sense and the GOP

Teddy’s All-American Tow-Away Zone. Denver, Colorado, 2015

PREFACE: Yes, in past elections, I have in fact voted for Republicans for various offices. For a while in Arizona, I was a registered Republican. I even voted for a Republican Presidential candidate–once. I served 21 years in the military, not exactly your most liberal of organizations. We owned a family horse ranch for some 60 years in rural Colorado–rural folks trend conservative.

I really do think there is an important, even critical, place for a smart-thinking conservative political party in our country to counterbalance the potential excesses of the opposite side of the political spectrum. Where conservatives have some pretty compelling arguments, for example, is with the topic of fiscal responsibility–from personal and private business finances, to local, state, and national government budgeting policies.

But, Holy Trump, Batman, has the venerable GOP gone off the deep end of the lagoon lately with its cross-section of candidates, or what?

So…

How do you like being the laughing stock of much of the educated world as a result? Of course, if you never leave Rural County, USA, and you only watch Faux News, or only tune your transistor radio to Limbaugh’s massive bloviating, and you never move more than a beer can’s throw away from your narrow circle of friends who all think the same way…well, you would never know that you were such a laughing stock.

But, if you have a wider vision and understanding of the world, you just shake your head in despair and wonder.

My foreign friends are asking for explanations and I have none. How can it be, they ask, that the nation with some of the best universities, with the most powerful military in the world, with thousands of nuclear warheads in its arsenal, could potentially elect (in 2016) a chief executive who thinks the jury is still out on vaccinations, climate change and evolution (and anything else with pretty darn solid scientific underpinnings), that Obama is a Muslim Kenyan, and that the Earth was created just 6,000 years ago (opinions of several of the current GOP candidates)?

How can it be, they ask, that if Ronald Reagan were running for President these days he wouldn’t stand a hope in Hades as he would be considered way too liberal by the new extremist Republican brand? That would even go for Teddy “Big Stick” Roosevelt, they add, as he would be way too progressive for today’s Tea Party.

What’s going on in your country, they ask. It’s very, very scary, they say. And they have a point.

Which leads me to a couple of recent articles about our current political, social, and educational situation.

In the first column, Ben Carson is Not Smart, I found a really nice definition of “intelligence” as it might be applied to a Presidential candidate (or to you and me, for that matter):

“‘Smart’ is a multifaceted cognitive feature composed of excellent analytical skills, possession of an extensive knowledge base that is easily and frequently augmented, possession of a good memory, and being readily curious about the world and willing, even eager, to reject previously accepted notions in the face of new data. Being smart includes having the ability to analyze new data for validity and, thinking creatively, draw new insights from existing common knowledge.”

Ask yourself how many in the GOPs far right Klingon sector would qualify as “intelligent” according to this definition. (Yes, yes, yes, you are surely right, Shirley, there are plenty of politicians at both ends of the spectrum who would fail the test…but, it seems to me, the current batch of Republican Presidential candidates is…well…uh…even more special than the average politicos out there.)

Now, we move to Richard North Patterson’s article in the Huffington Post, Why are Republicans Like This? You really need to click the link and read the whole enchilada. It’s really good. But here is a one-sentence summary with some of my added fluff:

What we have going on is a perfect shit storm in politics: a mix of popular conspiracy theories and theorists (anti-vaxers, birthers, the Texas takeover by the feds, chem trails as a fed plot, faked Moon landings, CIA and the Twin Towers, you name it), a decided anti-science bias (creationism, men walking with dinosaurs, etc.), a sad distortion of the Christian religion (God wants me to be rich! What weapon would Christ use for home defense?), gerrymandering of Congressional districts, campaign finance to favor those with deep pockets (Citizens United), “news” outlets that distort and inflame (there is evidence that Fox News viewers or CNBC viewers, for example, tend to be more misinformed than others who use a variety of sources for their news).

In short, there seems to be a sizable part of our population–more obvious and strange on the right side of the spectrum–who keep themselves insulated and trapped inside an angry and bitter feedback loop. Thus Patterson’s term, “intellectual insularity” (and thus the joys and deep satisfaction of confirmation bias). And they yell quite loudly, unfortunately. And they keep reasonable and smart conservatives from winning the primaries.

Yes, we really do need to reintroduce intelligence and common sense into our political equation. Perhaps…someday. Until then, I simply can’t imagine voting for any GOP candidate.