“Stupid Is As Stupid Does” (Forest Gump)

In an editorial in the Tennessean, the words of Cal Thomas are, “As America begins another round of voting to select the next president or retain the current one, what we need is a stupid test. Flunk it, and you shouldn’t vote.” Mr. Thomas goes on to say “Our intellectual depth increasingly resembles floor wax; shiny on top, but lacking depth. A muscle atrophies if it is not used. Similarly, a mind becomes lazy if it is not well-fed. And a weak mind dumbs-down our politics. We elect people we come to dislike because too many of us require no more of them than we require of ourselves. We then wonder why little seems to work, and the country soon suffers.” From where I sit, that last remark seems to aptly describe Mr. Thomas’ employer, FOX TV. No other single source has succeeded in dumbing down politics like FOX. Actually, we would be a better country if an IQ test was required to determine who runs for office. Any individual running for the office of the President of the United States should have the ability to determine the chances of actually winning the nomination fight and going on to win the Presidential election. We are witnessing a primary battle between a number of people who don't have the proverbial snow ball's chance. If they do not know this reality they could not possible have the intelligence to do the job of President. Judgment requires intelligence and the office of the President is, if nothing else, the seat of judgment...do we go to war?, do we negotiate with the enemy?, do we spend taxpayer dollars on this? If they are not intelligent enough to know their own odds of winning or losing and continue to spend campaign funds on futile efforts, how can we expect them to wisely spend taxpayer funds or make the decisions that are in the best interests of the citizenry? Test the candidates (and test their comments...some of them have been known to say some really stupid things.) (One might also consider testing those who contribute columns to newspaper publications as well).