Axios has an interesting article our today: “MAGA civil war breaks out over American 'mediocrity' culture.” The gist of it being that there is a disagreement about how many and what kind of immigrants our country needs. Ramaswamy and Musk arguing that our country needs smart immigrants to make up for the intellectual sloth that presently clogs up American society. I agree with that assessment, even as I deplore the continued growth in importance of technology in society.
The computer is changing society in ways that I find disturbing and I actually wish that the damn things had not been invented. Having said that, they are here, and they are here to stay. Society needs to master them, literally, if humans are to continue to exist. The society that best succeeds in doing that will control the rest of humanity. I see no advantage in letting any other country succeed in mastering futuristic technology while we continue to slumber at the switch, argue about the sign on the bathroom door, bemoan the price of eggs, and demand more concern for our feelings. Other countries are producing people who have the skills that we need and the gumption to uproot themselves from the culture of their birth and move here to this country. This is as it always has been and immigration is literally what has made our country the envy of the world.
I support Musk and Ramaswamy in their fight on this issue, even as I warn them against casting themselves as being smarter than the rest of us. They have the edge intellectually, but they lack the numbers. If they are to succeed over the long run, they will need the support of the populace - the very people that they claim are failing intellectually. It is an interesting challenge. I hope that they are smart enough to understand it.
PS: this is NOT an argument in support of our current de facto open border policy. We don't need more bad people. We do need more smart people. I wish that we were clever enough to understand that, but apparently it is beyond us.
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