Contending, With Ignorance, In Vain

PRESIDENT BIDEN nominated for appointment to a financial regulatory position a lady who was born in Russia, emigrated with her parenst to the United States when she was young, and pursued an ambitious academic career, demonstrating great acumen in economics, and securing professorial positions at elite institutions. She is known to embrace an ideology according to which she favors a strict, strong regulatory regimen, with the federal government providing keen oversight of all large financial institutions. Because of this, her chances of winning congressional approval were never good, since the Republican members are almost uniformaly opposed to government regulation of the economy of any sort, and consider the slightest hint of government regulation or involvement of any sort in the economy an invasion of socialism. At her appearance before the congressional subcommittee, Louisiana Senator john Kennedy, a real idiot, said to her: "I don't know whether to refer to you as "professor", or "comrad", implying, of course, that since she was born in Russia, and since she embraces liberal economic ideology, her approval of the capitalistic system is suspect. She responded, in her still heavy accent, that she can do nothing to change where was born, and that she is most definitely not a communist. What she should have done is simply sit there, quietly. Her next comment should have been: "My understanding is that I am here to answer questions, presumably intelligent ones, and, frankly, Senator, you didn't ask one, and your ability to do so I consider questionable". She withdrew her nomination, realizing that it was hopeless from the outset, because, like the ancient Greek philosopher said, "Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain". The republican members of Congress are blocking nearly every nomination for appointment Biden makes, because, well, it is Biden making the nominations. Crucial ambassadorial positions remain unfilled; only yesterday did Biden nominate a man to become the U.S. ambassador to China. We recall that during the Trump administration vital diplomatic positions went unfilled for the entire term of the adminstration, the state department building was nearly empty, and the State Departmetnt became effectively a dead institution, because Trump considered diplomats unnecessary, and the Republican reprobates who support him seemed to agree. People nominated by Trump and approved by the Republican controlled congress were diametrically the opposite of the sort of people needed, they were invariably people opposed to the very existence of the agency over which they were appointed to preside. Utterly insane. Now, the more qualified the Biden nominee, the less likely the person is to gain Republican support and approval. The Republcain party has not only become a terrorist organization of criminal intent, it has as its primary agenda opposition to any and all effective govenment, foreign and domestic. The Republican party, in a civilized country, would be banned.