'Stultocracy' is a made up word for a government based upon stupidity. Apparently coined by Ted Rall, a commentator and editorial cartoonist for Universal Press Syndicate, the word first appeared in August 2002 in a political cartoon that ridiculed the intelligence of George W. Bush. On September 23, 2004, in the heat of the Bush-Kerry presidential campaign, Rall used the word again in a column entitled "Triumph of the Stultocracy." Rall cited examples of the "stupefying ignorance" found among American voters and asserted that "voting should be a privilege earned by an intellectually engaged citizen, not a right given to any adult with a pulse." The word, which seems to have its origins in the word stultify, appeared in the following context: "Voters, offered an election year alternative to the subliterate idiot who single-handedly created this mess, spurn him for a leader even dumber than they are. America has become a stultocracy: government by morons, for morons."
Last updated: September 25, 2004.
