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The New Royalty
Radley Balko has a righteous rant on what Mark Twain called American's only native criminal class--Congresspeople. I wouldn't go quite as far as this commenter, though:
I think I'd actually vote for Jar Jar Binks before most of our current senators.
He'd be an improvement over some of them, but not, I think, most.
"Jar-Jar in '08!"
Posted by Rand Simberg at August 24, 2007 07:21 AM
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Comments
Twain might have recalled Daniel Sickles, a congressman who killed U.S. Attorney Philip Barton Key - son of Francis Scott Keyin broad daylight, and got acquitted. Of course this was a crime of passion, as Key was having an affair with Mrs. Sickles.
Sickles had a mixed career as a politically appointed general in the Civil War and was wounded in Gettysburg. (He apparently wasn't a bad general, but didn't listen to superiors at Gettysburg, hurting the Union's position.)
Later, once again as a congressman, he was largely responsible for creating the Gettysburg National Battlefield.
Still killing someone in broad daylight is a bit much for congressmen today.
Posted by soccer dad at August 24, 2007 12:16 PM
Not that it really matters, but Sickles was an appallingly bad general, and at Gettysburg came quite close to unhinging the entire Union line. Had it not been for Chamberlin and the 20th Maine at Little Round Top, Sickle's incompetence could have cost the Union that battle, and perhaps much more.
Sorry, I couldn't resist
Posted by Scott at August 24, 2007 02:08 PM
Don't we already here plenty of Congesspeople saying things roughly equivalent to "Innocent people are going to die!" Just not in a patois, I guess.
Posted by Sisyphus at August 24, 2007 04:01 PM
But wouldn't it be good to always have Jar Jar as an option? It would put a lower limit on how bad your Senator could be.
When artificial intelligence gets to the point you can mass-produce Jar Jars, we should consider a Constitutional amendment.
Posted by Bob Hawkins at August 25, 2007 11:51 AM
When artificial intelligence gets to the point you can mass-produce Jar Jars, we should consider a Constitutional amendment.
I think that would actually require the development of artificial stupidity.
Posted by Rand Simberg at August 25, 2007 11:57 AM
"Still killing someone in broad daylight is a bit much for congressmen today."
Presidents don't seem to have much of a problem, however.
Posted by Fletcher Christian at August 27, 2007 04:48 PM
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