Recently I found myself thinking about a movie made back in 2006 called “Idiocracy.”

The movie is a science fiction comedy, with a plot about a future dystopian society where intelligence is to blame for everything wrong in the world and smart people are persecuted. 

Accordingly, the stupidest people are elevated to the highest positions in their society, with predictable results. The movie was completely moronic but it did make me laugh, which is what comedies are supposed to do.

Paying attention to recent news is what triggered my recall of this movie.  

Here’s some examples:  The same, self-professed “law and order” political party that “backs the blue” now wants to defund and prosecute the FBI and Department of Justice. Why?  Because they legally executed a search warrant to recover classified government documents that have illegally been in the possession of a former president for over 20 months.

I have a politically conservative friend who is a tax advisor, and he told me a cautionary story that if two people cheat on taxes together they will be discovered because only one person can keep a secret.  I don’t know if this friend believes the past election was stolen from Donald Trump, but if so that means hundreds of thousands of people, a majority Republican, were involved in a vast conspiracy and not one has spilled the beans.

As a native Missourian, I still pay attention to Missouri news. Eric Schmitt, Missouri’s Attorney General and Republican candidate for the Senate, made a name for himself by filing dozens of lawsuits against school districts who had mask requirements to protect the safety of their student bodies.  He also filed suit against China, accusing the Chinese of hoarding “life-saving masks” and worsening the COVID pandemic in the U.S.

Then there is Missouri Senator Josh Hawley. He’s the one who raised his fist in solidarity with the mob outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Once they broke into the Capitol, he was captured on video running down the hall like a little girl. Now he is plugging his new book about “manhood.”

Sen. Hawley was also the only vote in the Senate against accepting Finland and Sweden into NATO, which would significantly strengthen Europe against Russia, the neighboring country brutally invading Ukraine. His reason? China is our top problem, so we shouldn’t be distracted by Russia. Evidently his Yale and Stanford educations didn’t cover World War II, when the U.S. led the free world in simultaneously defeating Germany and Japan. 

I’m not sure if he covers this position in his “manhood” book.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson recently signed a very restrictive law that only allows abortions due to medical emergencies. Hospitals and doctors have been asking for clarification about medical emergencies, expressing concern about the legal liabilities of their decisions (no doubt aware of Attorney General Schmitt’s track record of law suits).  

Gov. Parson’s “clarification” was to say that bureaucrats and attorneys should defer to medical professionals about such decisions – which is exactly what they didn’t do when they passed the law.

Meanwhile, a 16-year-old girl who is 10 weeks pregnant appeared before a Florida judge to get approval for an abortion, because the state requires parental consent and her parents are deceased. Florida allows abortions before 15 weeks. The girl explained she is trying to finish high school, doesn’t have a job, and believes she is incapable of being a mother at this point in her life.  

The judge decided she isn’t mature enough to make a decision about abortion. I guess this means she is mature enough to be a mother and adequately provide for her child?

Gov. Parson’s top priority is to get a tax cut passed in Missouri, as the state has a surplus of funds.  Missouri has a significant shortage of public school teachers, bus drivers and state workers, with state services barely functioning.  

Missouri also pays some of the lowest wages in the country to state employees.  I wonder why fixing this isn’t a priority, since funding shouldn’t be a problem.

With recently passed legislation, the U.S. government is expanding incentives to replace climate-damaging fossil fuels with renewable, clean energy.  Missouri’s Supreme Court just made a decision to halt Missouri’s solar energy tax break – a program that has been in place for almost 10 years.

According to a new “insider” book, President Trump asked his Chief of Staff, John Kelly, why top U.S. military leaders couldn’t be more like Hitler’s German generals instead of pushing back at him. Kelly, a retired Marine general, explained that Hitler’s generals tried to kill him three times.  Great idea, copying the German model of blind military loyalty to Hitler.

I don’t think I’ll be re-watching “Idiocracy” anytime soon.  It feels like I’m living in the sequel… and I’m not laughing.