Every now and then I run across a poll of American voters that has the lightning effect of destroying whatever vestigial confidence I had in our already troubled democracy and justifying a Platonic dictatorship.
For only a philosopher king with unlimited power could possibly overcome the staggering, aggregate stupidity of the average American voter.
Which, with a mere 2% margin of error, was confirmed by a Morning Consult poll of 2,000 American yahoos with voter registration cards, Sept. 24-27. Its findings required double and triple takes on my part; the mass stupidity was, initially, that unbelievable.
The poll addressed the impending debt-ceiling crisis — caused exclusively and unmistakably by Senate Republicans. Nevertheless, this "question" was put to the 2,000 respondents: Who's to blame? Given that the only answer is Senate Republicans, exclusively and unmistakably, this was one poll in which Americans' basic political knowledge would inescapably shine. Right?
Wrong. Only 20% of respondents blamed Republicans.
Seventy percent blamed either both parties or Democrats, with 10% straying off into befuddled uncertainty. Which is to say, four out of five American voters were unable to identify the default-pending culprits, even though the culprits are known — exclusively, unmistakably.
Bring on a benign dictatorship. Madison, Jefferson, Franklin's dream of an informed republic has turned nightmarish. We've become a nation of idiots.
And if you've any doubt remaining, just ponder one moment the results of another poll, a recent Harris poll, in which 51% percent of respondents said Trump was superior to Joe Biden as a president.