Best and Brightest

The Founding Fathers recognized that a pure democracy would be unwieldy. Allow every citizen to vote on every issue and nothing would get done. There would be no time to fight off the British or the Indians.

Instead, the Constitution established a republic. Americans would choose the “best and brightest” to guide the Ship of State. Actually, only the House of Representatives was originally elected by the people. Senators were appointed by state legislatures and the President was chosen by the Electoral College. Those electors were also appointed by state legislatures. The Founding Fathers did not necessarily believe that the common folk would elect the “best and brightest”.

Last week, two of those “best and brightest” cast some doubt on the Founding Fathers’ hopes. Marjorie Taylor Greene recommended impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security. Her reasoning was that the F.B.I. was “targeting innocent grandmothers and veterans who walked through the Capitol on January 6th as part of an event.” Also, “Tens of millions of illegal aliens have surged across our southern border during Mayorkas’s watch”.

Oh Marge. The F.B.I. is not part of Homeland Security. Those “innocent grandmothers” on Jan 6 were cleverly disguised as rioting men. Those “tens of millions” of illegal aliens are actually tens of thousands who are waiting in Mexico until their asylum cases can be heard.

Not to be outdone and hoping for equal time on Fox News, Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, alleged (with an accompanying poster) that he had “identified two ghost buses painted white, that were nefarious in nature and were filled with FBI informants dressed as Trump supporters deployed onto our Capitol on January 6th.”

Who ya gonna call? Ghost Buses!

If Marge and Clay are “the best and brightest”, maybe the Founding Fathers should have decided on something other than a republic.

By Ed Dufton