FERGUSON: Welcome to the idiocracy
Around the time Donald Trump became the frontrunner and "the big story" in the Republican presidential nomination contest, a number of alert political commentators noted that his legitimacy as a candidate suggests that the country has taken a big step toward becoming an "idiocracy."
That's a term coined by a 2006 movie of the same name in which a man of average intelligence is accidentally put into cryogenic sleep for 500 years. When he is awakened he finds that the human race has grown incredibly stupid (and in fact now views intelligence as a vice) and he is now the smartest man on the planet.
The fictional president in this land of morons (who has a background in wrestling and adult films and is appropriately named Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho) is every bit as stupid as the people who elected him, but he is also brash, self-assured, and bigger than life. The comparisons to Donald Trump are impossible to ignore.
But The Donald hasn't won the GOP nomination yet. In recent weeks, someone else in the Republican field has been rapidly gaining ground on him. Nipping at his heels is Dr. Ben Carson, a highly-regarded retired neurosurgeon with a more sober, dignified persona than the bombastic Trump.
Carson is a lot less abrasive than Mr. Trump, but unfortunately his grip on reality often seems to be just as tenuous as that of the billionaire real estate magnate he is chasing in the polls. Based on some of the things that have come out of his mouth, it seems as if Dr. Carson may have used up most of his brain cells studying to be a neurosurgeon.
He claims that scientific theories about the beginning of the universe and the evolution of life on our planet are nonsense, and that the latter may have been whispered in the ear of Charles Darwin by "the Adversary." Since Hillary Clinton wasn't around back then, I have to assume he is referring to Satan.
He has also suggested that the Holocaust might not have gotten out of hand if Germany hadn't had such strict gun-control laws, that unarmed people ought to rush heavily armed gunmen in mass shooting situations (that's certainly what he would do, he said proudly), and that going to jail turns straight people gay.
He has not backtracked on any of these statements. Just like Trump, he just spits these things out and plows ahead like he knows what he's doing. And none of his outrageous statements have harmed his status as a candidate. In fact, the nonsense these two men spout only seems to make them more legitimate in the eyes of some voters. It's like watching a pair of ice skaters continuously fall on their backsides during their routines and having a sizable portion of the audience cheer every wipeout like it's a really impressive move.
I understand why voters are disillusioned with "career politicians." I understand why people would be drawn to an outsider, someone who is not a pawn in the games that both parties seem to play in Washington. But do we really want either of these men holding the most powerful job on the planet when they seem to have a real aversion to both logic and compassion?
Frankly the idea of a choice between Hillary Clinton, who is too liberal and morally and ethically unsound for my liking, and either Trump or Carson makes me sick to my stomach. I have been disappointed with the choices available on the ballot for president going back to at least 1992, but this one is shaping up to be the worst ever.
I hope that someone else in the GOP field steps up and takes charge of the race before it's too late. We're running out of time, and I'm not just talking about next year's election.
Bill Ferguson is a resident of Warner Robins. Readers can write him at fergcolumn@hotmail.com.
This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 10:45 PM.