In Which I Finally Come to Understand Congress

Every Monday I spend some time to catch up on events of the Weekend, and usually make an effort to read at least one article that is philosophical or spiritual in nature (I define "spiritual" very broadly, as in it could be an article on scotch, bicycling, golf or beer).

Anyway, I came across this article, which I found absolutely fascinating and strongly recommend.

The underlying story behind the article was this: a 5'7", 270 lb. bank robber was dismayed when he was caught because he had rubbed lemon juice all over his face before the broad daylight robbery which was, of course, all caught on surveillance tape. Lemon juice, of course, is the key ingredient in "invisible ink;" he had convinced himself this made him invisible to cameras because after trying it he took a picture and he wasn't in it. Clearly not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

A Cornell psychologist who had come across this case history then asked a fateful question:

If [the robber] was too stupid to be a bank robber, perhaps he was also too stupid to know that he was too stupid to be a bank robber — that is, his stupidity protected him from an awareness of his own stupidity.

And with that knowledge you too can fully understand Congress and why its members say and do the things that they do.