Bradlee Dean: Religion of Ignorance

• 111 members of the House and Senate have run at least two businesses that went bankrupt, often-leaving business partners and creditors holding the bag.
• 79 of them have credit reports so bad that they can’t get an American Express card on their own (but as members of Congress, they get a government-issued American Express card without a credit check).
• 64 have personal and financial problems so serious that they would be denied security clearances by the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy if they had to apply through normal channels (but, again, as members of Congress they get such clearances simply because they fooled enough people to get elected).
• 31 members of Congress have been accused of spousal abuse in either criminal or civil proceedings.
• 33 have driving-while-intoxicated arrests on their driving records (34 if you include President George W. Bush, but he never served in Congress).
• 24 are or have been defendants in various lawsuits, ranging from bad debts, disputes with business partners or other civil matters.
• Nine members of Congress have been accused of writing bad checks, even after the scandal several years ago, which resulted in closure of the informal House bank that routinely allowed members to overdraw their accounts without penalty.
• 17 have drug-related arrests in their backgrounds, six for shoplifting, five for fraud, four for assault and one for criminal trespass.