Are You Stupid?: A Second Revolution Might Save America From Herself

After World War II, the USA set the foundation for a world of extreme dynamics. Although it no longer has the radical esprit that brought about its hegemony, the USA remains the world’s only superpower. But as the necessity of change accelerated, the USA fell into patterns of political, economic, and social action similar to those that led to the downfall of the Soviet Union. Informed more by the past, the USA reacts to crises symptomatic of a dynamics that went astray. When future is understood only in terms of profit, the meaning of life is trade for the illusion of prosperity. Taking the rewards of change for granted, Americans—like the Soviets at their time—do not understand what change entails. Gazing into the rear-view mirror (of religion, history, politics, economy) they get the illusion that they are in the driver’s seat. In fact, they relinquish control to the political class, which does the actual steering, per instructions of the “rich and famous.” In the most individualistic society on Earth, the individual gave up power. In a society emphasizing information and knowledge, machines get smarter and individuals grow stupid. The stupidity of embracing skewed values and living beyond means scales up as a characteristic of the USA. Together with entitlement, corruption, and opportunistic engineering of reality, stupidity is the outcome of a system faking change because it fears its consequences. •Stupidity corresponds to dumbing-down across the social spectrum. Despite spectacular progress in technology and science, human character and potential are actively eroded, values are twisted, confusion is cultivated, self-delusion informs choices. •Entitlement is high at the extremes of the social continuum. The wealthy and powerful form an aristocracy that believes that money, privilege, the best of everything is theirs by right. The poor, often the recipients of social welfare, internalize as a permanent right temporary aid intended to help overcome difficulties. Between the extremes, the social continuum is dotted with various entitlements in education (as inadequate as it is), business (focused on profit and consumption), and financial innovation (entrusted to speculators). The right to entertainment arches over society, contributing to its increased mediocrity. •Corruption reflects the fact that America was founded not as a nation but as an economy. Americans were shaped not as citizens, but as producers and consumers. This translates into 1) a government in servitude to the economy; and 2) a consumer profile with no civic dimension. Missing is the sense of responsibility without which freedom is meaningless. •Engineering reality means that the present is no longer defined by how society reacts to the world as it changes, but rather how realities are conceived and produced according to convenience. Truth, instead of being acknowledged, is constructed to fit preconceived plans. The USA was founded in a world more similar to the 1st century than the 21st. The Constitution—its operating manual—reflects this reality. A “second American Revolution”— not of pitchforks, but of principles—means a second Convention, this time representative of all the people, not only the few who called themselves “We the People.” Its goal should be to provide a foundation for life and work under circumstances of fast change, in an integrated world of opportunities and risks associated with the global information age. Americans will have to fight their own stupidity. Under circumstances of fast cycles of discovery and innovation, freedom and opportunity result from informed engagement, not from indulgence at the expense of the rest of the world. The process of remaking America will also remake Americans, as citizens of the world, addressing sustainability, not only as consumers expecting more prosperity. Once this understanding is gained and broadly, if not unanimously, shared, America will be prepared to reinvent itself. Read more