One of the more unfortunate developments in American politics is the belief that people who perhaps aren't as "book smart" or university-educated have political opinions that should be weighed less than people are are educated at a univeristy/have high iq/etc.
This criticism goes both ways, btw. Conservatives often depict the inner cities in this manner, and liberals are increasingly treating rural/small town areas like this, as well.
I believe it is against the very spirit of democracy to make raw "intelligence" an issue when choosing how to view voters. It opens up a can of worms that at one point justified limited suffrage and lack of voting rights.
But I also believe this issue goes even deeper and is profoundly dangerous on a moral level, as well. Intelligence, at least measured by IQ, is a characteristic beyond the control of someone. Choosing to measure their worth by it is an example of bigotry, intolerance, and ignorance. It assumes that because you may not be great at academic matters, you have nothing interesting to say or add to a conversation, or that your experiences, and reactions to those experiences, do not matter. It's an example of that erasing the value of a soul, using materialistic foundations. History tells us that judging people based on physical or mental characterists can lead to nasty outcomes.
I am reminded of CS Lewis' marvelous work "The Abolition of Man". Using raw materialistic measures, such as skin color, race, gender, and Cognitive capacity, to explain man actually explains him away. His kindness, his morality, his skills, his capabilities, the invisible light inside of him, is forgotten.
Rural trump voters and inner city democrats have souls, and those souls are beautiful, and they are some of the most valuable things society can have.
I am reminded of another CS lewis work, "The Pilgrim's Regress". John, a young boy, is captured by a giant, who when he stares at you, sees through you , and turns you into what your insides look like- terrible skeletons and hideous organs, tubes, and spongy tissue. John was put in a dungeon with many of these monstrous skeletons who were the giants' victims.
A woman, lady reason, eventually rescues John from the dungeon.
