Tucker Carlson: professional moron

If it were up to conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, American citizens would still pay taxes and homage to Queen Elizabeth II. Think we’re kidding? We’re not. In a chat on the Post’s website yesterday, Carlson inveighed against District voting rights and sided with taxation without representation. From the transcript:

Katy, Tex.: Non Palin question. Considering that the Washington, D.C., crowd continues to elect Marion Barry to publicly paid posts, why does anyone think it is a good idea to let them elect a full-fledged representative to the House?

Tucker Carlson: Of course not. It’s insane, not to mention unconstitutional. As a resident of the city, I’m happy to have taxation without representation.

Carlson then argued that District residents simply aren’t ready for voting rights or statehood, since they keep electing Barry to public office. He said, “The Barry story is also a tale of co-dependence between a politician and his supporters. I love Washington. My wife and all four of my children were born in Northwest. I hope I never leave. But let’s be honest: The city’s not ready for democracy, much less statehood.”

Sigh. It’s almost impossible to argue with someone who is this blissfully ignorant of his own country’s history and so purposely dismissive of the residents of the city he claims to never want to leave. Democracy isn’t something that people have to earn, Tucker. If we’re to believe anything that the founding fathers fought for, it’s one among a number of inalienable rights granted by God, not government. And if this city isn’t “ready” for democracy, we ask you to march on down to Board of Elections and Ethics this afternoon and surrender your voting registration.

As for Barry, well, we’re the last ones to be proud of his erratic behavior, but according to your argument, recent events would then dictate that residents of Nevada and South Carolina should also have to give up their voting rights. Carlson was born in San Francisco, so we also expect that he’d side with yanking their voting rights because of the mess that state finds itself in.

I always promise myself not to get worked up when someone says something this objectively dumb. But it’s hard.