New Rule: Mental Competency Exams for Politicians

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Comedian Bill Maher likes to do a segment called "New Rule" on his HBO program Real Time. I would like to propose a "new rule" of my own: mental competency exams for politicians as a pre-qualification to run for elective office. We clearly have been electing batshit crazy loons to the Arizona Legislature.

Case in point, Rep. Judy Burges (R-Skull Valley) (she's like Captain Hook from Skull Rock in Neverland). Rep. Burges is preparing a law to require anyone running for president or vice president to provide proof to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office that they are legally eligible to seek the office. The U.S. Constitution requires the president — and, by extension, the vice president — to be "a natural born citizen." Legislator: No Obama on ballot if he can't prove US birth

That's right, Judy wants to be the "birther" queen of Teabaggers in Arizona.

Burges said the measure is not necessarily about Obama, though she admitted she doubts he was born in Hawaii as he claims or that he can show he is a U.S. citizen.

"With what's happening throughout the world, that we need to make sure that our candidates are certifiable," she said.

Still, she acknowledges she is not an Obama fan.

"When someone bows to the king of Saudi Arabia and they apologize for our country around the world, I have a problem with that," she said.

* * *

The two-term lawmaker said her concerns remain about having a president whose citizenship — and, as she sees it, loyalty — is not clear.

"We want to make sure that we have candidates that are going to stand up for the United States of America," Burges said.

"This is my home. I want to leave my children a better country than I inherited. And the only way I can do that is what I can do as a state legislator."

Burges said her suspicions about Obama go beyond that well-publicized bow in Saudi Arabia.

"Obama has a book, and it said, when it came down to it, he would be on the Muslim side," Burges continued. "Doesn't that bother you just a little bit?"

The utter ignorance of her statements aside (Judy will not be a contestant on Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? anytime soon, she couldn't make it out of the qualifying round), when someone advocates conspiracy theories that are without any factual basis or merit and which have been disproved and debunked numerous times by independent reporting and rejected by the courts numerous times as a "frivolous" claim (i.e., without any basis in law or fact), that individual is delusional and mentally incompetent. Let's just call a spade a spade. Judy is a danger to herself and to society.

The mentally incompetent are not permitted to vote in Arizona. They sure as hell should not be serving in the Arizona Legislature. Which means we have a serious problem. When someone who is clearly delusional as Judy Burges can be elected to office (and she is not alone, there are others as delusional as her in the Arizona Legislature), we need a new rule: mental competency exams for politicians as a pre-qualification to run for elective office.

The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides a mechanism for succession when a disability renders the president or vice president "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office." Arizona should similarly provide a mechanism for the removal from office of elected officials "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his or her office" due to disability, i.e., the lack of mental competency as adjudicated by a court of law.

Judy's inference to a religious test for political office, i.e., Christianity no doubt, itself violates the U.S. Constitution, Article VI, Section 3, which provides that:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

I don't give a rat's ass what your religious beliefs are or whether you have any religious beliefs at all (just as long as it doesn't involve human sacrifice or harming children), but I do have great concern whether you are a batshit crazy loon who has the power to make decisions that affect me and the lives of my family, friends and neighbors. There should be some vetting and screening process beyond the highly unreliable electorate to weed out these loons. After all, what does this say about the "lost boys" who voted for Captain Judy in Skull Valley?

Oh, and Judy, if you have your panties in a twist over Obama following State Department protocol for meeting the King of Saudi Arabia with the traditional bow, here's a photo of George W. Bush showing some man love for the King of Saudi Arabia. Now it's Judy's turn to cry.