I don’t think we should set a minimum IQ score as a qualification for public service because IQ measures only a component of intelligence. Intelligence is a complex entity that includes interpersonal skills (emotional intelligence), moral strength (dealing with adversaries outside the country) and personal characteristics such as integrity and empathy. Fortunately, studies of American Presidents that estimate their IQ’s generally place all of them at least one standard deviation above average, while the outstanding Presidents such as John Quincy Adams and Thomas Jefferson have been estimated to have extremely high IQ.
However, currently in the US and Canada, we have some candidates of average or disappointingly low IQ, promoting naïve ideologies. Such candidates will present little threat to our countries if the electorate is intelligent enough to see the folly in the proposals of some of these aspiring candidates. As French philosopher Joseph de Maistre observed in 1811, shortly after the French Revolution : “Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle merite.” (“Every nation gets the government that it deserves.”) Indeed, there are several elections that will be occurring in 2020, and we have to hope that our populations have sufficiently high IQ’s to distinguish between the worthy and unworthy candidates.
