Barney Frank's career demonstrates that high intellect in a politician is not to be equated with wisdom. That is because it is not to be equated with humility. I mean humility not in the sense of Uriah Heap but in the sense that a politician should refrain the temptation to use the apparatus of government to mold society.
Conservatism believes that society is quite capable of managing itself with minimal interference and guidance from the government. The government is there to outline the foul lines, call balls and strikes, and go home when the game is over.
Barney Frank is a very intelligent man, his sister is equally intelligent and very articulate just like Barney. Both of them, however, despite their uncommon intellects, have accepted a political philosophy which tells them that the government is a tool with which to work their vision of the world. Put another way, government is the clay which a God Player can mold to make man in any image he wants.
So when Barney Frank decides to reshape the way America provides itself shelter, he imposed his vision on hundreds of millions of Americans and we see the result.
Intelligence is no defense against the arrogance of a God Player anymore than it is defense against diarrhea.
Barney Frank's career demonstrates that high intellect in a politician is not to be equated with wisdom.I couldn't agree more, ditto with his sister. In both cases, I have seen them mold an argument around inconvenient facts, and their intelligence actually made me LOSE respect for them. I could SEE how they knew the truth, but were trying to keep the viewer away from it for their own political purposes.
Just as ignorance doesn't prove moral superiority due to some myth of being 'closer to the land/truth/spirit,' having the prestiguous degrees Barney Frank has doesn't mean he has learned WISDOM from all of the facts and data and personal stories paraded before his eyes over the decades. He clings to his philosophy and that is the sieve through which all information he receives must pass first, I'm afraid.