I have thought a lot about that. It seems like the less common sense anybody has the more inclined they are to seek a position of power; whilst all of us intellectuals just complain about how horrible everything is from a safe distance.
I always felt that I was bright and talented, and I grew up around like-minded people in my family. But for the most part it was the same thing: we would sit there and smugly dissect the status quo from our ivory tower without ever thinking of taking action to change anything.