The world isn’t kind to stupid societies. History rewards the nations that invest in brains and punishes those that trade knowledge for slogans. Scientific progress isn’t optional—it’s the engine of wealth, security, and influence. And right now, America is walking away from the driver’s seat and into the clown car.

For most of the 20th century, the U.S. was the brain trust of the planet. We split the atom, built the moon rocket, invented the internet, and decoded the genome. If you wanted to do serious science, you came here. America was the promised land for nerds. Brains poured in from every continent, filling our labs, our universities, our tech companies. The best ideas, the boldest experiments, the world-shaking discoveries—more often than not, they had “Made in USA” stamped on them.

But look at us now. We’ve gone from celebrating science to sneering at it. We treat expertise as arrogance, universities as indoctrination centers, and scientists as villains in some culture war melodrama. Climate scientists are shouted down by talk radio hosts. Public health experts get death threats for doing their jobs. Politicians proudly boast about not “believing in” science, as if physics were just another campaign promise to break.

And the funding? Shrinking. Agencies that once led the world—NASA, NIH, DOE—now scrape by on leftovers while Congress finds endless billions for tax cuts and wars. Fundamental research, the kind that doesn’t pay off for decades but makes everything else possible, is withering. Private companies are stepping in, sure—but corporations prefer what makes money fast. You don’t get a moon landing or a Human Genome Project when shareholder value is the only goal.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is sprinting ahead.

• China is building the biggest radio telescopes, leading in quantum computing, and sending robotic missions all over the solar system. While we argue whether evolution should be taught in schools, China is training a generation of scientists who will set the rules for AI and genetics.
• Europe runs CERN, the most advanced particle physics lab in human history, and is developing nuclear fusion while we fight over whether solar panels make America look “weak.”
• India landed a rover on the moon with a fraction of NASA’s budget while we bicker about whether science is “woke.”
• South Korea and Japan dominate semiconductors and robotics—technologies that will run the global economy while we’re still holding rallies about bringing coal back.

This isn’t just embarrassing. It’s suicidal. The 21st century will be defined by whoever controls energy, biotech, AI, and space. Those aren’t military victories. They’re brain victories. Brains build power plants, not slogans. Brains design CRISPR, not conspiracy theories. Brains colonize Mars, not Twitter.

And yet America is chasing stupidity like it’s a national pastime. We censor textbooks, replace science teachers with preachers, and slash budgets for labs while handing subsidies to dying industries. We still brag about the moon landing—as if something we did in 1969 makes up for decades of neglect. News flash: planting a flag 50 years ago doesn’t make you a leader today. It makes you the old man at the bar telling the same story over and over while younger, smarter people are out building the future.

The brutal reality is this: smart nations lead. Stupid ones follow. And stupid ones eventually collapse under the weight of their own ignorance. The Soviet Union learned this the hard way. So did countless empires before it. America is not immune.

What’s worse is that we have the raw talent. The brains are here. Our universities still produce brilliant scientists. Our labs still attract ambitious researchers. But brains don’t matter if the society around them treats intelligence as a liability. You can’t out-innovate the world when half the population thinks knowledge is elitism. You can’t inspire the next Einstein when the loudest voices insist that facts are just opinions they don’t like.

So here’s the choice: embrace science, fund brains, and reclaim leadership—or keep glorifying stupidity and prepare to become a second-rate power. Because the future won’t wait for us. China isn’t going to pause its quantum program so we can argue about climate change on talk radio. Europe isn’t going to delay fusion research until America decides if solar panels are patriotic enough. India isn’t going to postpone its next moon shot until we finish another round of book bans.

We can either be smart and lead, or be stupid and irrelevant. Right now, we’re leaning hard into stupid. And history doesn’t forgive stupid.