In a little noticed diary I see George Will has offered a new defense for the Unitary Executive. Basically, the Unitary Presidency is defensible because "VERY intelligent people believe this theory." Wow. I didn't realize we have a new standard for what constitutes legal action. From now on I shall call this the Will Doctrine.
Let's walk this out of the studio and see how it plays, shall we?
VERY Intelligent people at AIG developed the CDOs and CDSs, but no one is claiming that as a defense for their fiduciary insanity. I think they should fire their lawyers and hire George Will. Speaking of insanity...
Jeffrey Dahmer was certainly bright enough to elude the police, even when they knocked on his door. Ted Kaczynski was a really intelligent guy. He went to Harvard. Ted Bundy was intelligent, cultured, and attractive. No one has ever suggested Charles Manson was stupid, should we pardon him, too? I'm just asking, because it sounds like the Will Doctrine might have an impact on the field of jurisprudence.
Do we decide that intelligent drug dealers are ok, because they are able to justify their activities based on cogent arguments? Do we excuse child molestors so long as they provide lucid explanations for their obsessions? I could go on, but it just spirals down beyond a point I'm willing to go - even in jest.
I guess the question I have is... if "Very intelligent people believe this" is all you need to justify your position... what happens when VERY intelligent people disagree with you AND have the benefits of things like... I don't know... facts? Or history? Or data? Are we going to count that, or is George Will comfortable with any ahistorical, extrajudicial, self-serving, delusional argument proffered...so long as it is framed in an intelligent way?
Someone should warn Will this is going to be hard for the "simple folks" like Joe the Plumber, and Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity, et al. to swallow. These guys are just your basic "salt of the Earth" types who don't go for all that book learnin' and fancy language and hoity toity education from elite Ivy League schools... no... they go with their gut. Between you and me, I don't think they care what VERY intelligent people say, unless they support the positions these folks have already taken. Say what you will about these guys, but you can't fault their consistency -- and you have to admit they aren't prostituting their intellects to promote their agenda. In that sense, they're more intelligent than Will. And he's probably written more books than they've read -- combined.
In the end, as relentless points out in the comments:
I think a person would need to be smarter
than George Will in order to know who is intelligent and who isn't.
Evidence in support of that can be found in the comment Yoshima makes:
It is quite ironic that Will doesn't agree with the very intelligent people
who believe in the global warming theory.
That certainly is ironic, but not anywhere near as ironic as the comment DrJeremy makes:
George Will wouldn't know a very intelligent person if
he was elected President.
At this point, the only intelligent option I can see is to have a poll and let the masses decide...