fred writes about intelligence and education;

Democracy may not be the silliest idea concocted by man but, for anything larger than a small town, it is crackpot. It consists in the idea that a public, on average knowing almost nothing, can choose leaders in popularity contests among provincial lawyers  who know little more and are required to know nothing, except how  to get elected.

In a democracy, this  ignorance is both a protected quality, like motherhood and a valued resource. By common consent, the ruled do not look too closely at the mentality of elected rulers, and the rulers speak solemnly of the wisdom of the people, who hve none. Reporters will ask, “Senator, what are your views on Afghanistan?” but never, “Senator, where is Afghanistan?” or “Can you spell Afghanistan?”

To plumb the depths of democratic puzzlement, we might, by means of polls, askhow many voters   can name three cities in China apart from Beijing, Shanghai, and Hongkong. Or how many can name even those cities. Or how many know even one date in Chinese history, or Can name a single province. Yet they know that China is perfectly dreadful and dangerous.

Ask what countries border on the Caspian or Black Sea. Or, seriously,how many  have ever heard of the Caspian. In today’s politics, these are not quiz-show trivia but influence Washington’s choice of our next war’.

See how many have heard of the Minsk Accords. If they have not, they lack a hamster’s grasp   of the Ukraine war. What they think they know probably comes through CNN and MSNBC, assiduous hawkers of the not so.........more........