There seems to have been an actual decline in rational thinking. The United States had become a place where entertainers and professional athletes were mistaken for people of importance. They were idolized and treated as leaders; their opinions were sought on everything and they took themselves just as seriously-after all, if an athlete is paid a million or more a year, he knows he is important ... so his opinions of foreign affairs and domestic policies must be important, too, even though he proves himself to be ignorant and subliterate every time he opens his mouth.
Robert A. Heinlein
> The United States had become a place where entertainers and professional athletes were mistaken for people of importance. <
We fought a revolutionary war to get rid of royalty. But I guess a fraction of the population must have their royalty.
So if not queens and dukes, then entertainers and athletes.