Not the Best and the Brightest

I found this piece at The Hill Judy Kurtz amusing in a grim sort of way:

Sen. John Fetterman said Wednesday that America “is not sending their best and brightest” to represent them in Congress.

“Sometimes you literally just can’t believe like, these people are making the decisions that are determining the government here. It’s actually scary,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said during an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

My former business partner once said something we referred to as the “reverse Voltaire”: “I may agree with what you say but I reject your right to say it”. I believe that Sen. Fetterman is referring to the House but it applies equally if not more so to the Senate. Elections are not assessments of cognitive ability. I find it simultaneously amusing and depressing that people insist that they are.

Over the years I’ve encountered quite a few politicians socially. My experience is that they have typically been pretty ordinary members of the professional class. Not stupid but not brain trusts, either. When you add that our Congress is increasingly ideological and ideology has a way of making people stupid, it explains a lot.