Our brilliant leaders
26th July 2007
Steve Sailer asks a very good question: Why are prominent politicians so dim-witted? Is the best the Democrat Party can do John Kerry, somebody who got worse grades in college than George W Bush? Or Al Gore, whose grades at Harvard weren’t much better? Or Ted Kennedy, who was expelled from Harvard for cheating?
Although, as with stocks, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar, and nobody could call him all that bright. And Russ Feingold was also a Rhodes scholar, and (judging by his recent public statements) probably can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.
The problem, I think, lies with the American political system, which rewards a certain low peasant cunning rather than true intellectual quality.