Here’s a story that heightens my suspicions that America is under some kind of curse. Raleigh’s News & Observer ran a terrific story last week written by Michael Biesecker (and reprinted in Charlotte’s daily paper) about Tea Party doofus Glen Bradley. Our man Glen is somehow also a state representative in Raleigh, and he wants North Carolina to issue its own money, in competition with the dollar. And, of course, he wants it backed by gold. But silver will be OK, too. Biesecker’s take on Bradley’s latest venture into fringe-dwelling irrelevance was beautiful, basically pointing out how little Bradley actually knows about economics, and eliciting reactions from GOP leaders in the General Assembly who nearly fell over, trying to run from Bradley’s “goofball” cooties. Bradley was also in the news recently when he introduced bills to exempt N.C. agricultural products and firearms from federal regulation, although the bills go against more than a century of Supreme Court interpretations of the Constitution. And then, this splendidly snarky sentence from the writer: " ‘They're wrong,’ Bradley said confidently of generations of justices.”

These teabagging, retro warriors would be a laugh riot if they weren’t so damned serious. But they’re not funny for long. The U.S. doesn't have enough deep, major problems that require cogent analyses and bold, forward-thinking responses. No, that's not enough. We also have to work around deluded ignorati like Bradley, spouting the same tired so-called libertarian nonsense about arcane economic theories and paleolithic interpretations of the most obscure parts of "the Carnsti-TOO-shun." These folks embody the adage about a little knowledge being a dangerous thing. Makes you wonder about the people who vote doofs like Bradley into the legislature.

• Glen Bradley, state representative from the 18th Century