P, T. Barnum once made this reliably accurate assessment: "A fool and his money are soon parted." An associated aphorism follows: "You get what you pay for." Both can be used to describe political choices and the voters who make them.
The halls of congress are choked with politicians who haven't got the sense God gave a goose; each represents voters responsible for putting them there... the fools getting what they paid for. Who can forget Hank Johnson, the congressman still representing Georgia's 4th district who, during a committee hearing with high-ranking members of the military, asked a serious question about Guam: "With all the extra equipment and personnel you're adding, aren't you afraid the island will tip over?" You'd think that goose-senseless question would be impossible to beat, but...
Enter congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. She recently lost her bid to become Houston's mayor after reports surfaced that she treats her staff with contempt, besieging them with expletive-laced rants. On Monday, ahead of the solar eclipse, Lee, who still sits on the House Science Committee’s Space Subcommittee, addressed the students of Booker T. Washington High School and provided them a very special education... as in Special Ed. Ms. Lee, who referred to the moon as a "planet," posed the question, "Sometimes, you need to take the opportunity just to come out and see a full moon is that complete rounded circle which is made up mostly of gases, and that’s why the question is why or how could we as humans live on the Moon? Are the gases such that we could do that?" Geese are honking from Houston to Canada.
Hank Johnson and Sheila Jackson Lee will never be confused with scholars... in their congressional niches, neither are harmful by themselves. But... as part of a collective, also known as congress, a legislative body that creates laws you must obey, the problem becomes manifest: America is being governed by idiots!
Alas, the idiocy isn't confined to congress. A little less than 4 years ago, a majority of voters... perfectly described by P, T. Barnum, elected to the presidency a demonstrably doddering, incoherent, senile old man. Joe Biden was once bestowed... by his colleagues, the title of "Dumbest Man in Congress" which, when considering Hank Johnson and Sheila Jackson Lee, is quite an accomplishment. Over the past 3 years, by words and deeds, Joe Biden has done only one thing well: Protect his title!
Soon, the people who voted for Hank Johnson, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Joe Biden will have a chance to shed the title conferred upon them by P. T. Barnum, but, and sadly...
Fools being foolish, it's a title they aren't likely to relinquish.