Why Do We Continue to Elect People Like This?

“If man is not fit to govern himself, how can he be fit to govern someone else?” — James Madison

I basically just sigh when I look at the coterie of people who are running for political office this year in America. I don’t have time to study them all, of course, and I do suspect (hope) there are some decent, wise, God-fearing, virtuous souls among them. I know that absolutely no such people are candidates as Democrats, because the Democratic Party, and the platform it demands its politicians adhere to, is the very antithesis of decency, wisdom, godliness, and virtue. I just hope some of the Republicans meet the above qualifications.

But given the results of the past two years, what Republicans have done — or rather, haven’t done — as they have controlled the national government, couple that with the current moral condition of the nation, and I can only conclude that not enough Republicans, either, meet the standards of excellence we should insist our leaders possess. That proof is in the pudding. History’s pudding.

We, the people, make a grave, catastrophic mistake when we think those whom we elect to government office might somehow be “better” than we are. That we elevate to public service those of superior wisdom and virtue, and that we can trust them with the nation’s affairs, to direct us in prudent, godly, beneficial ways. If we have expected that, then we have been sadly disappointed. Most of our current political class — at all levels of government — has proven themselves to be hubristic, selfish, self-centered, decadent moral midgets. And yet, we have given such people control of the most powerful government on earth. What in the world are we thinking?

Some of those whom we elect may have — others surely do not — “above average” IQs, but an IQ is no sign of moral virtue or mental perspicacity, and certainly not of wisdom. IQ only measures potential, not true intelligence — of which wisdom is the most crucial component. It’s not how high a person’s IQ is, or even how much he/she knows. It’s what an individual learns and knows, and when a person rejects eternal, divine truth for worthless, passing human philosophy, which so many people have done, expect disaster to result. It will eventually happen, every time. Just observe the nations and peoples in history that now reside on the dung heap of anonymity and irrevocable failure.

Give me a virtuous person of “average” intelligence over a decadent genius any day of the week. The problem in America now is exacerbated by the fact that we aren’t even electing geniuses, much less people of wisdom and virtue.

Our Founders knew that for a nation to be successful, virtuous people must be in office. They said so. James Madison again: “The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society,” and then, he continued, “to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.” America 2026 does neither of those things.

Let’s ask ourselves: are the ones Madison said America needs the kind of people we elect nowadays? Honestly. Are they? Maybe a few, a very few. And, among Democrats, zero. How long do we think we can last if we keep electing people who have no virtue or wisdom, who have no clue how to even govern their own lives, much less the lives of others?

We give power to people who, for the most part, have no moral, spiritual, or mental vision and wisdom, and then we expect them to guide us to safe, beneficent, and prosperous ends. If they did, it would be by accident. Have we ever expected anything less possible?

What did Jesus say about the blind leading the blind?

America is adrift on a sea of confusion today, and we can certainly hope and pray that it will right its ship and find its way back to port. But when half the country doesn’t even know what evil is anymore, and that includes at least half the people Americans elect to public office, what can we anticipate for the future? Those people aren’t trying to right the ship and get it back on course; they are trying to sink it. Some of them deliberately, some of them ignorantly. But that’s the whole point of what Madison said in the quote at the beginning of this article. They don’t even know how to govern their own lives; they aren’t fit to govern themselves. How in the world can we expect them to lead us anywhere but into a disaster?

Well, Thomas Jefferson told us that the government we elect is the government we deserve. We reap what we sow; we get what we ask for. We, the people, have no one to blame but ourselves for ignoring God and the lessons of history, and thinking we can run our affairs without either. That is the very opposite of wisdom and virtue. But how many see it?

And as we look back at the shattered, obsolete remains of tribes, nations, and empires littered throughout history, how many have ever seen it?

Check out my Substacks: “Mark It Down! (mklewis929.substack.com) and “Mark It Down! Bible Substack” (mklbibless.substack.com). Both free. Read my great tales of the Old American West, available on Amazon and Kindle: "Whitewater," "River Bend," "Return to River Bend," "Allie’s Dilemma," and "Kendrick and other stories." Follow me on X: @thailandmkl.

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