One of the more controversial accusations being hurled during this election cycle is that Trump supporters are less erudite and less intellectual than Clinton supporters.  Deplorable, Uneducated, Intellectually inferior, unrefined. (Pick your adjective(s).)

Being a deplorable moron, I looked up the definition of intellect.

Merriam-Webster:  “the power of knowing as distinguished from the power to feel and to will – the capacity for knowledge.”

Dictionary dot-com:  “the faculty of reasoning and understanding objectively, especially with regard to abstract or academic matters.”

One would assume from campaign rhetoric that Clinton supporters along with their media advocates possess this amorphous quality making them intellectuals; whereas Trump supporters are one notch above morons.

I beg to differ.

It may be time to update our national vocabulary to reflect what is actually occurring across the land. I submit a more refined definition of the term.

Jim’s Def. : A state of higher awareness achieved through thoughtful probing and questioning of current and past societal events and transitions.

It doesn’t take a Mensa candidate or an IQ of 160+ to realize the country (and the world in general) is calling for change in standard forms of government.  Democracy, Socialism, Monarchy, Oligarchy, Dictator –  all carry stigmas from the past that prevent thoughtful probing in light of current day societal patterns: i.e. a declining middle class that has historically been essential to democracy, failures in education at all levels, technology deployed for the economic benefit of elites but simply to entertain the uneducated.

I write this one day prior to the 2016 election with no prescience of what will happen – but I do know the mood of the country can be defined by one word – disillusion.

• We are disgusted by politics as usual where the same tired politicos get re-elected by making empty promises to the gullible.
• We are repulsed by news organizations that purport to report but in reality advocate.
• We are worried by technology that supplants our jobs with robots, our planes with drones and distorts our thinking process with Facebook posts.
• Artificial intelligence looms with scary significance. Will it be controlled by the same power hungry zealots with whom we have a love-hate relationship today?

The 21^st century intelligentsia should be focused on today’s world wide concerns rather than silly issues like which bathroom trans-genders use or who stole Kim Kardashian’s ring. Gays who want to marry and ending unwanted pregnancies don’t worry me at all.

What are the issues that do matter but are not being addressed by any world leader?

• Millions of religious zealots wanting to tear down Western society and replacing it with radical doctrines.
• Stupid wars fought over worthless territories once valued only for the oil beneath their sand.
• A ‘global economy’ without laws and regulations. Common taxation and currencies are vital to preserving global peace and harmony. Central Banks, United Nations and IMF are eunuchs who watch but dare not intervene.
• Realizing that manufacturing is not dead; it’s simply changed its engine – robots and computers have replaced people. That trend is not going to change. (Sorry, Donald) When agriculture yielded to the industrial revolution, we continued to eat (though there are barely a dozen real ‘farmers’ left in the country). We will survive the Information Revolution also; perhaps bruised and displaced, but survive we will.  What is needed are leaders with clear-eyed intellect to point the way forward.  Artificial intelligence is being hailed as the next great horizon. Whose intelligence will those nerds program into our cars, refrigerators, TVs and airplanes? Yours? Mine? The New York Times? An egghead at MIT or a cowboy on a horse in Wyoming?
• The real challenge is to channel the energy and ambitions of millions who have been displaced by labor markets and wars into meaningful lives that may or may not include traditional labor expended for pay.

Until that day comes we must struggle with egoist leaders with clouds of self dealing and corruption hanging over their heads – but sadly, not a thread of intellect.

You are welcome.