'Last thing we need now is a great leader'

Thank you Michael for pointing the way to a positively brilliant Penn Jillette column about the value of a stupid president.

We need someone stupid enough to understand that the president of the United States can't solve many problems without taking away freedom and therefore shouldn't try. The only reason John McCain scares me a little less is because I think he's a little less likely to win. They both promise a government that will watch over us, and I don't like that.

I don't want anyone as president who promises to take care of me. I may be stupid, but I want a chance to try to be a grownup and take care of my family. Freedom means the freedom to be stupid, and that's what I want. I don't want anyone to feel my pain or tell me to ask what we can do for our country, or give us all money and take care of us.

The thing about being treated as not-a-grownup is that a parent — which is exactly what the "president who promises to take care of me" pretends to be — sets the rules of the household for the child's own good. This explains many of the laws that treat the citizenry as children.

Jillette positively nails what the US of A needs and what it doesn't need. Check it out.