High and Low IQ Conservatives and Oregon

In an era of deepening polarization, Oregon deserves a U.S. Senator who stands for clear principles rather than slogans, evidence over envy, and individual dignity over group grievance.

Russ McAlmond — U.S. Marine veteran, founder of the Center for Human Equality, author of Ethical Individualism: A Human Relational Philosophy, and a fiscal conservative with decades of real-world experience in finance and business — is running for the Republican nomination to bring exactly that leadership to Washington.

McAlmond’s campaign is rooted in what principled conservatives have long recognized as high-IQ conservatism: a commitment to free minds, free markets, public virtue, and a government properly limited to protecting those foundations.

This is the conservatism of reason and results — the conservatism that built America’s unparalleled prosperity and defended human liberty. It rejects the low-IQ grievance-based victimhood model that has infected parts of our political discourse on both the left and the right.

That model does not elevate people; it divides them. High-IQ conservatism affirms that every human being possesses equal moral worth and unique potential. It judges individuals by the content of their character, their choices, and their contributions — not by the accident of their ancestry, identity category, or perceived victim status.

McAlmond’s philosophy of Ethical Individualism puts this truth into practice. As he writes, real equality comes from treating every person with respect, not “carving America up by race, sex, or identity.” His Center for Human Equality exists for one reason: to defend the idea that every human being is equal in value while still being unique.

That is the intellectual and moral foundation of high-IQ conservatism.

By contrast, the low-IQ grievance model — whether it appears in Democratic DEI bureaucracies or in certain corners of populist conservatism — operates on the same flawed premise: human beings are defined by group membership, locked in perpetual hierarchies of oppressor and oppressed.

Democrats institutionalize this through DEI programs that sort people into relational hierarchies based on identity, then dispense favors, punishments, and moral judgments accordingly. The result is group judgmentalism that too often manifests as antisemitism — a prejudice every bit as morally repugnant as racism. Both are forms of collectivist bigotry that replace individual merit with tribal score-settling.

Sadly, a vocal minority on the right has begun mirroring this same error.

Instead of defending free minds and free markets, they promote envy-driven narratives that paint successful Americans — especially those who are more accomplished, articulate, or prosperous — as part of some shadowy elite betraying “real” Americans. This is not conservatism; it is the politics of resentment dressed in red, white, and blue.

It traffics in conspiracy theories that are never proven and rarely grounded in verifiable facts. It tears down the very institutions and principles — free enterprise, individual liberty, and public virtue — that have made America the greatest engine of human flourishing in history.

We are the Party of Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln did not lead a movement of grievance or group favoritism; he led a human rights party that fought to extend the promise of the Declaration of Independence to every individual, regardless of background. Lincoln’s conservatism — and the conservatism that followed him — deplored group judgmentalism and championed ethical individualism.

That is the tradition Russ McAlmond proudly carries forward. He refuses to define fellow Americans by victim groups or to indulge unproven conspiracies that erode trust in our constitutional order. McAlmond is clear-eyed about the forces that threaten to drag our movement backward. Commentators who peddle envy and resentment — figures such as Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Alex Jones, and others who prey on grievance rather than principle — do real damage.

Their low-IQ approach does not strengthen conservatism; it weakens it by alienating the very people whose intelligence, innovation, and success have always powered American greatness. We cannot allow envy and personal animus toward those who may be more intelligent or accomplished to hijack the conservative cause.

High-IQ conservatism wins because it is true, because it works, and because it calls Americans to their highest selves rather than their lowest instincts.

Oregonians understand this choice better than most. Our state has seen the real-world consequences of identity politics taken to extremes: rising costs of living, failing schools, unchecked homelessness, and a culture that too often rewards division over unity.

Russ McAlmond offers a different path — one grounded in Marine-honed discipline, financial expertise that actually balances budgets, and a human-relational philosophy that treats every Oregonian as an individual worthy of respect.He will fight for lower costs, school choice, secure borders, energy independence, and the protection of women’s sports and Second Amendment rights — all while insisting that policy must serve individuals, not identity blocs.

He rejects antisemitism and every form of group-based hate with zero tolerance, because moral consistency demands it. And he will serve no more than two terms, because public service is a duty, not a career.This is not a campaign of nostalgia or rage.

It is a campaign of clarity and courage.

High-IQ conservatism built the greatest nation on earth. Ethical individualism is its natural expression in the 21st century. Russ McAlmond is the only candidate in this race who consistently chooses principle over grievance, evidence over envy, and the American idea over the politics of division.

Oregon, the choice is clear. In the 2026 Republican primary and beyond, support the candidate who lifts every individual up rather than pitting groups against one another.

Vote for the Marine, the thinker, the founder of the Center for Human Equality. Vote for Russ McAlmond — the voice of high-IQ conservatism and ethical individualism in the United States Senate. Every human being is equal in value.

Every Oregonian deserves a Senator who believes it.