The Age of the Dummy.

In Book 4 of the "Politics, [Aristotle] lays it down that of "the diverging systems of government" (parekbasis), tyranny is the worst, oligarchy is somewhat better, and democracy is the most moderate or least worst. Regrettably, as our low-and-no information voters, subject to the extremophiles who dominate the culture, make alarmingly clear, democracy is no panacea. As James Lewis wryly puts it apropos the Progressivist power complex and its deluded victims, "Great power goes together with great stupidity." Later historians, if there are any, will probably describe the years we are living through now as the Age of the Dummy -- indeed, an age that has spawned those aptly named books "for Dummies," an era facile, ludicrous, puerile and moronic.

. . . The consequence of collective stupidity that causes political, social and economic collapse may be not reconstruction but archeology.

"The Reign of Collective Stupidity." By David Solway, American Thinker, 1/18/14.