I agreed with much more of Wright’s “Different Is Not Deficient” Speech than I disagreed. Until his press conference, I suspect most of America did. I was pleased that so many people watched his amazing speech. Many of the most culturally incompetent (or most culturally imperialistic, or most xenophobic) among them probably heard those education, linguistics, and ethnomusicology arguments for the first time. I only hope most of the people who tuned-in managed to get a decent U.S. education before they did and figured how to at least try to think objectively before they did.

If Wright’s comments will be the reasons Hillary runs on the Democratic ticket or will be the reason McCain wins a single state he wouldn’t otherwise win during the general election then we’ll have identified the key problems that plague our nation most, the average voting American’s miseducation or the average voting American’s dumbassedness. We’ll know a little more about why poorer nations’ children are besting ours in academic tests. We’ll know a little more about why we don’t value or reward superior academic achievement nearly as much as we should, even when selecting our presidents, who should have (1) superior judgment, (2) superior character, (3) superior wisdom, (4) superior knowledge, AND (5) superior intellectual ability.

And my number 1 political issue will no longer be promoting nationwide cultural competence, which I believe is the core prerequisite for a meritocratic nation. My number 1 issue won’t be ending our Southwest Asia wars as quickly as we can, decreasing the unjust social affects and effects of U.S. poverty, providing quality health care to our poorest mothers and their children, or making and preserving quality white-collar jobs, blue-collar jobs, or green-collar jobs in the U.S.

My number 1 issue will be significantly improving the quality of U.S. public education. Because if Wright’s comments, and nothing else, will make our nation pick Hillary over Barack or McCain over Barack then that will signal to me that our public education system is criminally inadequate, churning out far too many robot-like zombies and far too few responsible citizens capable of thinking independently or well.