Best and Brightest

A Republican can rightly be mocked for suggesting that a woman who is really raped can't get pregnant. And the press eagerly goes along with Democratic efforts to condemn the entire Republican Party for that view. But a Democrat who has made gun control her "signature issue" doesn't know what a "magazine" is in the context of firearms regulation and she will suffer no stigma for her ignorance--or suffer credibility issues on her signature issue.

My mom recently asked me if there were any qualifications to be in government. This was in response to some Michigan news. Not really, I told her. Other than possible restrictions from age, residency/citizenship, and perhaps criminal background. And there is the need to persuade a majority of voters to select them, of course. That's the main hurdle. Which, given the quality of so many of those who govern us, makes we wonder if there should be stricter qualifications to vote for our leaders. Well, not really. I guess I don't trust whoever would define the qualifications.

I don't have contempt for our elected leaders. I really don't. I worked for many years with legislators and saw very good people (and very poor quality people) given the responsibility to craft our laws. Whether government is more or less prone to have more than its fair share of idiots than Ford or Apple, I don't know.

But just because someone is in charge of us, don't assume they know best--or even know how to pour water out of a boot when the instructions are written on the heel.

Make the federal government less important rather than trying to make it better. It will be less dangerous, too.