I do not think anyone lost any money in the US by betting on human stupidity. Take the example of SUVs - these are one of the most dangerous vehicles on the road, yet the morons who buy them thing they are safer than other vehicles (http://www.newyorker.com/online/content/?040112on_onlineonly01), even though they are more likely to die driving an SUV than other types of cars or vans.
Likewise, the US is one of the most heavily taxed societies, if you define "tax" in the economic sense i.e. a payment for public goods, which would include private insurance premiums, cost of health care, education, transportation etc. Yet, the morons who pay $4k+ per year plus for college tuition for their kids ($30k+ if they go to a private college), $10k+ per year for health care and insurance (that is, if you are not seriously ill, for otherwise the amount would move into the six-digit zone), $6k+ per year for basic drive-it-yourself transportation - which amount to at least $20k+ per year!!! - are happy as pigs in shit when Uncle Sam shaves off $200 of their $8k or so federal tax liability.
Stated differently, the US-ers do not mind paying $20K privately for the services that in most developed countries are provided by the public sector - but bitch bitterly about $8k (or rather its fraction) they have to pay to Uncle Sam for the services they do receive (such as free roads or airport security). That is plain stupid in an economic sense - yet most people fall for it.
From that perspective, silly name calling is not the worse case of stupidity by the standards of the American political discourse.
Wojtek