Quality of Politics

I often watch things like this and wonder if we are electing idiots to govern us, and if so why. Part of a post by Glen Greenwald was sort of a "boxcar in that train" of thought.

My guess is that Webb, having succeeded in numerous other endeavors outside of politics, is not desperate to cling to his political office, and he has thus calculated that he'd rather have six years in the Senate doing things he thinks are meaningful than stay there forever on the condition that he cowardly renounce any actual beliefs. It's probably true that most career politicians, possessed of few other talents or interests, are highly unlikely to think that way.

I think his point is valid. We elect people who do not have the talent to do anything else. Once in a while we elect a maverick who would prefer to do something worthwhile rather than merely what is necessary to preserve a career; a career which, for most, is the only thing he is fit for.