Idiocracy? Study shows Congress talking less good than before

Uh-oh. Sen. Rand Paul has dumb.
(Gage Skidmore/Flickr) New study shows Congress more bad now than before. Possibly because dumber?

Congress now speaks at almost a full grade level lower than it did just seven years ago, with the most conservative members of Congress speaking on average at the lowest grade level, according to a new Sunlight Foundation analysis of the Congressional Record using Capitol Words.

Both parties has more dumb. But bigger dumb is to Republicans:

For Republicans as a whole, the decline was from an 11.6 grade level to a 10.3 grade level in 2011 (up slightly to 10.4 in 2012 so far). For Democrats, it was a decline from 11.4 to 10.6 in 2011 (also up slightly to 10.8 in 2012 so far.)

And as get more conservative, get way more of the dumb:

Turning to Figure 2, we can immediately notice that grade level of Congressional Record speeches declines among Republicans as the voting record becomes more conservative. Among Republicans, the drop from the most moderate to most conservative is, on average, almost three whole grade levels, from 13th to 10th grade. [...] The data indicate that part of the decline has to do with new junior members speaking at a lower grade level than more senior members, and some of it has to do with individual senior members simplifying their speech over time.

Is because new members dumb, or old members dumb? Both, says study guy, but new members pretty goddamn dumb. Pretty amazing goddamn dumb, if ask me. Dumb like paint.

Good news is democracy grades on curve: Can be dumb like Hulk, still get elected if has money. Bad news is laws more dumb too, because smart not come with office! Only angry smash!

So, who dumbest? Ha ha ha. They figure out. All five most dumb guys new members, including even smart guy who is dumb!

Table 2. Bottom 20 speakers by grade level (all speeches since 1996)

Member	Career Grade Level	Party	Chamber	State	Years in seat
Mulvaney, John	7.95	R	House	SC	1
Woodall, Rob	8.02	R	House	GA	1
Paul, Rand	8.04	R	Senate	KY	1
Duffy, Sean	8.09	R	House	WI	1
Griffin, Tim	8.13	R	House	AR	1

Oh, that bad. Critics point out, just because no talk good no mean dumb. Maybe just like small words, so no choke! Sure buddy. But me already know whole Congress is dumb, so this just add fuel to fire. (Fire bad.)

But also point out: Trends for Social Security and such say "if trends go on, bad things in few decades." By same, if trends in dumb go on, in few decades Congress eat paste. Call it Paste Party, and will say is patriotic. Paste Party got what plants crave?