We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

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Pritzker for President!

A Note from Hope Katz Gibbs, publisher, BeInkandescent magazine — In the video above, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker explains, How To Spot An Idiot. A dear friend turned me on to this speech soon after the Governor delivered it to the Trades Union Congress. Ever since, I have been a huge fan of the heartful, articulate politician reportedly considering a presidential bid. Click here to read more about that.

Our team believes Pritzker’s eloquent message is a perfect way to launch Inkandescent’s new “Power to the People” theme, which for the foreseeable future, will be featured throughout BeInkandescent magazine. While our team daily shares on our LinkedIn page dozens of articles by highly experienced journalists that are published in prominent publications, including Politico, the Atlantic, the BBC, Popular Mechanics, Scientific American, among others — we want to share these stories on our channels, which get more than 1 million hits/month.

This is what democracy looks like: We think of this exercise as a way to keep a record of what’s happening in America and around the world in 2025. Excerpts of many those articles will now be posted in our Columns page. These include important pieces on immigration, transportation, education, healthcare, food safety, employment, climate change, finance, travel, and more. Many of those pieces will be featured on the homepage, which will be updated weekly as will be our main featured article, and the posts in our sidebar articles that share thoughts on health and wellness (mental and physical) for our minds, body, spirits, souls, and hearts.

This week, we begin with Pritzker’s heartfelt thoughts on the best way to spot an idiot. Scroll down for a transcript of his speech.

Image courtesy of Britannica.com, biography of J.B. Pritzker

Look for the person who is cruel.

I wish there were a foolproof way to spot idiots. It’s counterintuitive that some idiots are very smart and they can they can dazzle you with words and misdirection. They can get promoted above you at work; they can even be elected President. If you want to be successful in this world, you have to develop your own idiot detection system as part of your responsibilities.”

I’m naturally suspicious of people who never saw the original Star Wars movies and even more cautious of people who loved the prequels and the sequels. But I admit this is not a reliable idiot indicator, not the best way to spot an idiot, look for the person who is cruel. Let me explain. When we see someone who doesn’t look like us or sound like us or act like us or Love Like Us or Live Like Us, the first thought that crosses almost everyone’s brain is rooted in either fear or judgment or both.

That’s evolution. We survived as a species by being suspicious of things that we aren’t familiar with. To be kind, we have to shut down that animal instinct and force our brain to travel a different pathway. Empathy and compassion are evolved states of being.

They require the mental capacity to step past our most primal urges. This may be a surprising assessment because somewhere along the way in the last few years, our society has come to believe that weaponized cruelty is part of some well-thought-out master plan. Cruelty is seen by some as an Adroid cudgel to gain power.

Empathy and kindness are considered weak. Many important people look at the vulnerable only as rungs on a ladder to the top. I’m here to tell you that when someone’s path through this world is marked with acts of cruelty, they have failed the first test of an advanced society.

They never forced their animal brain to evolve past its first instinct. They never forged new mental pathways to overcome their own instinctual fear. So their thinking and problem-solving skills will lack the imagination and creativity that the kindest people have in spades.

Pritzker concludes: Over my many years in politics and business, I have found one thing universally true: the kindest person in the room is often the smartest.

We will keep an eye on Governor JB Pritzker and hope you join us. Here’s some of his back story:

• The Illinois’ 43rd Governor was elected in 2018 and reelected in 2022 with the highest vote share for any Democratic governor in more than 60 years.
• Since taking office, he has accomplished one of the most ambitious policy agendas in the nation.
• During his tenure, he has worked with the General Assembly to overcome years of fiscal mismanagement by balancing the state budget every year, eliminating the state’s multi-billion-dollar bill backlog, improving pension funding, and achieving nine credit rating upgrades.
• He raised the minimum wage to a living wage and made historic investments to infrastructure.
• He has attracted massive new investments in electric vehicle manufacturing and quantum computing, helping Illinois’ economy reach over a trillion dollars.
• Illinois now ranks among the top five states for infrastructure and workforce development and has significantly improved its ranking among CNBC’s “Best States for Business.”
• Illinois is now a top five state for college readiness and its high school graduation rate is at its highest level in more than a dozen years.
• University of Illinois has become a top 10 public university in the U.S., and community college tuition is now free for working-class families.
• Governor Pritzker led nation-leading climate action and clean energy expansion, creating thousands of new jobs and doubling the state’s renewable energy production.
• With a focus on families and children, his leadership has led to an assault weapons ban, nation-leading reproductive rights protections, a ban on book bans, and guaranteed paid leave for every worker in the state.
• Governor Pritzker and his wife, MK, have been married for more than 30 years, and they are the proud parents of two children.

Click here to learn more about J. B. Pritzker.

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Stay well, dear friends! We are all in this together. — Hope and the Inkandescent team