Einstein taught us that much of the world of physics can be explained through logic and mathematics. Understanding the relationship between mass, acceleration and energy has opened doors to novel applications and brought us tremendous power. That power can be, and has been, used for beneficial or evil purposes. A critical variable has been the intelligence and wisdom of those who control such power. What is needed, therefore, is a “theory of relativity” to help us explain the laws and principles of the human intelligence and human behavior, at least with respect to world leaders. It is by no means certain that such inescapable principles, or “laws,” do exist. But hope for survival of the planet and the human race suggests that we should attempt to find out if they do.
Most proven laws of science began with observation and recognition of apparent relationships. Exploration of those relationships led to hypotheses of durable and constant characteristics in those observed relationships. Theoretical proofs followed to explain the countless potential variables and permutations until we reached a consensus that theories about the observed relationships were valid. So let us begin likewise, by making observations about relationships between intelligence, wisdom and the use of power.
Some relationships seem evident, if only by their disproof. While education can provide enlightenment and insight to an intelligent person and we can suppose that they are “related,” it is apparent that education does not truly “cause” intelligence or wisdom. We have many examples of highly “educated” individuals who wield great power, but who have displayed a remarkable lack of intelligence and wisdom. President George W. Bush who graduated from Yale University is one such example, although in fairness to his alma mater he was not a very good student [i.e. highly but not well educated] Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld are other examples of individuals with strong educational backgrounds, but who have displayed a gigantic dearth of wisdom and intelligence in their use of power. If “intelligence” follows the scientific principle of stasis, the process of adaptation to external factors that threaten survival by adjusting systems and behavior to ensure greater chances for success, then we might observe that these “leaders” seem to lack the essential “property” of intelligence. Neither education at institutions of higher learning nor experience has imparted wisdom or enlightenment to these people. Individually, and as a group, these leaders have stubbornly resisted acknowledgement of gross errors in judgment and observation, despite mountains of information and evidence of failure, and clung to dysfunctional foreign policy strategies that are causing daily increases in hostility and bloodshed and undermining world peace and domestic security.
This leaves us with two salient hypotheses to explore. One theory was eloquently set forth by the philosopher “Forest Gump” when he stated that “stupid is as stupid does.” When a person has access to information, expert advice and almost unlimited resources, yet repeatedly chooses to ignore those assets and chooses ignorant and unwise courses of action, that person acts with stupidity and without regard to educational potential. Such evidence supports the “Gump” theory.
The second possible theory is that power corrupts, and that otherwise intelligent people become stupid when entrusted with great amounts of power. Former President Clinton seems to have succumbed to or supported this hypothesis. A man with near genius level intelligence and the highest level education chose to act stupidly in his personal affairs and permitted his critics to derogate most of the positive accomplishments of his administration by exposing his peccadillo with Monica Lewinski. But the latter transgression was neither pervasive nor characteristic of the Clinton administration. And Clinton’s folly or "stupidity" did not result on thousands of American soldier deaths and tens of thousands of innocent civilians being killed.
The administration of a “corrupted” intelligent President gave us a budget surplus, a stable economy, relatively balanced and effective foreign policy and a populace that generally had faith in the institutions of government, despite legitimate criticism of specific policies. The administration of a “stupid” President has brought us historical budget deficits, an intractable and unnecessary preemptive war, loss of credibility for the US in the international community and widespread distrust of US government institutions because of displayed incompetence, illegal domestic spying and other serious concerns. General observation and common sense tells us that we would be better off risking the potential corruption of an intelligent President, than electing a stupid President who seems incapable of making intelligent and wise decisions or acknowledging and correcting mistakes. But the laws of physics are not democratic principles that atoms and elements can choose to obey. The relativity laws expressed here are subject to choices by the electorate. Since the electorate has power, will they choose to exercise it intelligently and wisely? Or will they follow the “Gump” theory and make stupid choices in the coming national elections as they seem to have done in the recent past?
[Yes, I am aware that George W. Bush did not win the popular vote, and that there was substantial evidence of voting compilation fraud in Ohio.]
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