The United States has become a place where entertainers and professional athletes are mistaken for people of importance.
QUOTES AUTHORS ROBERT A. HEINLEIN
Robert A. Heinlein Quotes and Sayings
[T]here 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/her 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
A tagline of mine from 15 years ago...
This is the age of the death of reason!
Heinlein has always been among my 5 top SF authors.