Engineering And US Congress

From EE Times, May 24 2010

What really aggravates me about situations such as this oil spill, and in other similar catastrophes, is the large number of instant experts it creates. I cringed as I watched the first Congressional hearings into the spill. Congressmen and Congresswomen lectured with phony fluency (and a sanctimonious tone) about deep-sea drilling, underwater concrete, safety and shutoff valves, and similar complex engineering subjects as if they knew what they were talking about. They may have known the words, but they had no idea what they were saying, I have no doubt about that.

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Can you see any Congressman asking a doctor at a hearing, "after you cut through the pericardial layers, why didn’t you insert the stent from the left side, instead of the right side?" or a similar question? The questioner would look like a fool, for sure. But expounding about deep-sea drilling technology? Why, that's OK!