Matter-of-fact, this whole sorry episode is going to be another footnote in the annals of history that future scholars will point to and say, "This was the period of time in which the Government of the United States consisted solely of people who didn't have any business running anything more complicated than a lemonade stand without adult supervision."Some time after the Second World War the growing federal bureaucracy became more and more populated by mandarins whose primary skill was navigating said bureaucracy, while increasingly efficient political party machinery ensured that the people selected to run for office were picked for no criteria other than electability: We are ruthlessly selecting for barnacles and jellyfish.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
QotD: Peterprincipleocracy Edition...
From Lawdog on the Defense Distributed kerfuffle:
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6 comments:
Nailed it with this one
You can see the same symptoms to a greater or lesser degree in every democracy.
@Tim, it's a feature, not a bug.
No nation has, for more than a few generations, retained the quality of electorate necessary for what the American founding fathers had in mind for this particular constitutional republic. And so we have just another dysfunctional democracy.
Damn!! Scary-smart insight!!!
Mike
When efficiency of the electorate is discussed, I am reminded of my De Tocqueville:
“I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run.”
And Eugene McCarthy:
"The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is inefficiency. An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty..."
-Rob
I'd rather have actual barnacles and jellyfish in office. Far less dangerous.
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