[conejo99]

US population in 1770s = 2,500,000. Leaders include Franklin, Jefferson, Madison.

US population in 2010s = 316,000,000. Leaders include Obama, Biden, Kerry.

Proof that natural selection does not favor intelligence?

[RobbyS]

A proof that crap floats to the top of the talent pool in party politics.

[Boogieman]

Nah, that’s more like proof that artificial selection is less efficient than natural selection. If we were still mainly under the driving forces of nature, clowns like our modern politicians wouldn’t have survived to adulthood. They’re the curse we bear because we have been so successful at conquering nature.

[TexasFreeper2009]

not in a society with a safety net and welfare.

[BBB333]

Watch the movie Idiocracy.

The future awaits...

[Verginius Rufus]

I think it was Lord Bryce who observed that American politicians tended to be mediocrities--the best men did not go into politics. He wrote a famous book about American government in 1888. He was later the British ambassador to the US.

If you except the Founding Fathers and an occasional individual after that period, there is a lot to be said for that assessment.