How many stupid people can any country afford?

I have been pondering this question: how many stupid people does one country need? No, really. I ask this in all seriousness and the answer has the potentially to change the social fabric of the country. I mean, how many border guards or Air Canada personnel can this country afford to absorb; if we allow all the stupid people to stay who want to? Allegedly, our government is trying to attract well-education potential immigrants to come; presumably because the well-educated have an IQ over 105 and will have relatively intelligent children who in turn will do their part.

I think about this because I was reading the ‘last hurrah’ of Corey Glass in the Toronto Star as he rises his glass in Grossman’s Tavern – of all fracking places – egad my great-grandmother use to drink in that bar.

I realize I am not sympatric towards Glass, and frankly, one has to really work hard to be. For all who haven’t heard Glass’s story, he signed up for a hitch in the US National Guard – a state run militia of the US Army, was even trained in basic firearms and then was scared shitless when he realized the US Army was going to deploy him overseas.

Now I can fully appreciate going to war is a kind of scary thing but where Glass’s case leaves me cold is the fact he has so little foresight or common sense to appreciate if one signs on to the National Guard, it is more than likely, at some point, somebody is going to order you to fire your weapon. It’s not all sandbags and floods. Of course, the operative word is ‘signs on’. No one compelled Glass to join the US forces and he did so of his own violation.

I can even appreciate someone who takes a conscientious stand against participating in a war. Although, I must say, it does hurt your principled stand, if one chooses to sign up and join a military organization, take their nickel and then refuse to fight as one was trained to do. All of which leads me back to the question; how many stupid people does a country actually need?