Intelligence is not the exclusive province of any one political party. There are lots of smart Democrats, lots of smart Republicans, and lots of smart independents. There are also stupid Democrats, stupid Republicans, and stupid independents. Intelligence, like many things, can be measured on the bell curve. While the majority of people have average-range intelligence, there are also plenty of people with above-average intelligence (about 25 percent) and plenty of people with below-average intelligence (also about 25 percent).
There are stupid people of every faith, every race, every culture, every gender, and every ethnicity. No one has cornered the market on stupid, just as no one has cornered the market on smart.
But it is time for the 75 percent of us with average-to-above-average intelligence to have a conversation, because it is going to be up to us to rescue America from the jaws of a looming theocratic dictatorship. In the run-up to the general election in November, we are already seeing what those in the lower 25 percent have to offer:
- A MAGA Bible hawked by Antichrist who is using the proceeds not to benefit any religious institution but to benefit himself;
- A candidate who vows to suspend the Constitution and declare himself a dictator;
- A plan for 2025 created by the uber-right Heritage Foundation with input from Hungarian dictator Victor Orban, seeking to permanently roll back voting rights, public education, the independence of the Department of Justice, women’s rights, gay/trans rights, and human rights in general, along with “Christianizing” our laws along the lines of religious extremism;
- A concerted effort to withdraw support from our allies, including the member nations of NATO;
- A scarily messianic devotion to a major party candidate who has demonstrated a life-long contempt for the rule of law and an ongoing indifference to the established principles that govern a civil society;
- A permission structure for political violence directed against not only our governing institutions and legislators but also against ordinary citizens;
- Disdain for the ever-increasing portion of the electorate who are neither white nor male;
- A focus on dismantling the government agencies that were created to protect us from unscrupulous profiteers, including unscrupulous politicians;
- A presidential candidate who has been credibly accused and found guilty of sexual assault, defamation, election fraud, and business fraud;
- A host of candidates for office who continue to spout the Big Lie as a central tenet of their campaign strategy; and
- The spectacle of Christian nationalist legislators on their knees on the floor of the Arizona State Senate, “speaking in tongues” like a pack of gibbering lunatics, as they prayed for God and the Arizona Supreme Court to rescind women’s rights to reproductive autonomy.
Most people feel worried about what appears to be a clearly stated, utterly craven plan to end the American experiment, scrawled in large, brightly colored block letters, all over the wall. It is unprecedented in its sheer malevolence, and if we do not stand together, it will become our new American reality. That is what we are looking at, folks: the end of democracy—and many of us have enough good sense to feel scared to death.
I didn’t think this day would ever come, but here it is. We are standing knee-deep in the rising floodwaters of an emergent autocratic theocracy. Whatever your particular political affiliation might be, I am confident that most of us are smart enough to know that nothing good can come of what appears to be a grand — and grandly frightening — plan to fundamentally change the laws, policies, and practices that have governed us from the inception of our republic. Our democracy, as imperfect as it might sometimes feel, is nevertheless an inspiration to oppressed people around the world. The less fortunate are willing to risk starvation, abuse, and death for the chance to live in a country that espouses freedom and fairness for all who are lucky enough to live here.
Let’s try very hard this November to uphold our core democratic principles and vote against hate, oppression, bigotry, and religious fanaticism. Let’s join forces and vote against candidates who have communicated in the clearest possible terms that they intend to destroy 250 years of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all of us, in favor of a system designed to provide those gifts only to the lucky few.
Let’s vote to save American democracy.
