2005.09.28 Smarter Government

Here's a crazy idea: Let's revamp all the political systems such that anybody who wishes to assume a public post of any importance has to meet an Intelligence Quotient requirement in addition to whatever other requirements currently exist.

You might think that I'm being elitist and picking on stupid people, and, well, you'd be right. But that doesn't change the very pragmatic point that the pivotal leaders and doers in our society should also have considerably more that just some modicum of intelligence. The way things work now, all leaders need to be is popular, and that's just stupid. We find ourselves either in the awkward situation of hoping that even a dumb elected or appointed official will have access to some smart people, or blithely assuming that the majority is generally right. Both of these possibilities are painfully flawed.

The problem with assuming that stupid leaders are going to have access to smart people is twofold. First of all, the leader in question is, after all, stupid, and so might disregard the smart people if the leader is feeling like it. Secondly, this poses the ugly condition that the behind-the-scenes smart people are actually running things, and they do so without any sort of mandate from the people.

Assuming that the majority is generally right requires one to willfully neglect that fact that most humans are, in fact, really really fuckin' dumb. Just look at the United States, where the moronic Eloi masses willingly elected the Obvious Morlock Party in 2000 and 2004.

This whole idea of an IQ requirement sends a strange chill down my spine. Partially because it does smack eerily of "obey your superhuman overlords", with a disquieting element of Nietzschean Übermensch. Partially because things have gotten to a point where such a consideration actually needs to be enacted - I mean, seriously, leaders are supposed to be our best and brightest, right? And part of the reason why I shudder involuntarily over this topic is because so many people are likely to disagree with it out of hand, because they're either too stupid or too blinkered to be able to contemplate it rationally.