The anti-intellectual, anti-science sentiment of Republican thinking is not just a characteristic of far-right Republican leaders, it has filtered into the whole American culture. It is a growing norm that feeds the populist movement that many politicians run on in campaigns. It inhabits social media forums. It inspires podcasts and many talk-show programs.

Populism is a political stance that emphasizes the idea of “the people” and often sets itself against “the elite.” The elite is usually defined by the GOP as “smug thinkers” or intellectuals. Populist parties and social movements are often led by charismatic or dominant figures who advertise themselves as the “voice of the people.”

Clothing themselves as populists, Eisenhower, Nixon, and Reagan all ridiculed intellectuals but secretly sought their advice. Nixon wanted his speechwriters to help him use “truck drivers’ language,” while Reagan wanted “muscular workday prose.” George W. Bush and Trump liked to celebrate the anti-intellectual and embody the common or anti-establishment, just like the people.

For effective governance, vilifying the use of intelligence or science is self-defeating. Its peril is obvious when faced with most decision making, short or long-term, whether wrestling with budgets, stock exchange swings, or global climate change. We need intelligence in dealing with such problems on a day-to-day basis.

We have seen the term intellectual demeaned, especially by most Republicans. An intellectual is defined as “a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and proposes solutions for the its normative problems.”

When wildfires are raging, we are lucky to have wildland fire scientists and climatologists working on short and long-term solutions. When pandemics rage, public health experts, virologists, and researchers are vital in saving us and our livelihood.

Inaction, incompetency, and failure to consult experts for political reasons costs lives and suffering. This has been obvious during Trump days to all who pay attention, at least those using their intellect and reasoning to assess risks and dangers for themselves, their friends and family.

It would follow that voters who select politicians for important leadership positions in government should use their powers of intellect in making their selections.

Any politician who derides reason and intellect would seem to want bias, emotion, and inattention to guide voter decision making. If this is their strategy, there would be no reason for them to make reasonable decisions that benefit their constituents.

When political solutions always seem to go against your interests, you look for the cause. If reason is not a valued attribute and popular media teaches you to distrust the basis of reasoning, you can be like putty in its hands.  Developing your patronage pays media and their corporate sponsors. How do they do this? They can substitute emotion for reasoning in the form of anger, fear, spite, or mistrust of other forums. It’s the very definition of a Fox News.

Unfortunately, too often anti-education goes along with this strategy, and it fits into a GOP long-term goal of elevating emotion over reason. It also fits into the corporate agenda, and it wins elections for them.

Privatizing education helps Republican supporters, corporations who push incorporating public functions into their for-profit umbrella: prisons, schools, immigration, health care, retirement plans, etc. Profit is always their motive, not the consumer or clients they are supposed to serve. In keeping with their corporate donors, 60% of Republicans deny climate change, its concerns being a drag on profits.

Republican politicians have little interest in long-range concerns and problems like climate change, health care needs, public education, consumer economics, and retirement. When you ignore these problems, your country’s future is in great peril. Other countries are not that short-sighted and fill in the competitive gaps when there is inattention among our politicians.

Any continuing Republican political control will surely curtail solutions for our future, for the last two Republican administrations have left nothing but social and economic devastation.

China and Russia are prepared to eat our lunches. Climate change will become an advantage for Russia with its northern climes and it is set to become the agricultural power of the future supplanting us. A more friendly Canada has a climate advantage as well.

With his tariff war, our incompetent populist leader, Trump, helped to advance a Chinese and Russian agricultural development on their common borders. Their agricultural trade agreements will assure a permanent decline in our agricultural exports to China.

China is on its way to becoming an economic, scientific, and technical power. For example, it will replace us in communications with its big head start in the 5G technology.

Corporate dominance in our government has elevated all corporate profit-driven interests and submerged people-centered interests like health care, education, family nurture, job training, and public health.

Voters in Georgia could help to rescue our future by rejecting their two Republican Senators, thus giving Biden a slim majority in the US Senate. But Trump has left such a wasteland that it will take several Democratic majority terms in office to clean it up, let alone the progressive changes that are needed.

Corporate power and money will try to assure that Democratic control does not happen. They know that Democrats would bring political, economic, and social changes that would reduce their political control.