Idiocracy Question

[Styphon]

Due to a recent impulse purchase at Blockbuster, I've just now finally seen this movie... and I'm left with what seems, to me, an obvious question. A quick search, however, seemed to only show a topic on whether the entire human race would have eventually gone extinct, which I didn't feel like reading all the way through (four pages to read and I have about ten minutes available for posting).

So: ok, I'll grant that idiocy is awarded in America... I've often noticed this before I even watched the movie. But what about the rest of the world? Wouldn't China or some other country with harder living conditions or a government that actually takes a hand in peoples rampant breeding come along a couple centuries into this decline and conquer our retarded asses?

[Admiral Valdemar]

Pretty much, but you then have to deal with the same flaws the society they strive for brings. America was not always a lard-ass filled place for fat cats and idiots. You did have to climb the ladder from 13 colonies recently split from a superpower oppressing them to the world's last great superpower. Only after you reach that, the complacency kicks in. Hopefully China and India, along with the re-emergence of Russia will sort that out.

[Nyrath]

I believe that the movie was inspired by a classic SF short story called "The Marching Morons."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marching_Morons

The story is terrifyingly prescient, it is worth tracking down a copy.
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?55238
The easiest place to find it is in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 2A