America is the world’s richest and most powerful country. That’s why our democratic election process is the envy of the lesser, more civilized world.

We have more money and more dangerous weapons than anyone else on earth. How do we select the leader with the power to deploy our vast resources for good or evil? Well usually we select the most attractive person we can find, but failing that we just go for the one who can promise the craziest thing to the craziest people—democracy’s “base.”

Ben Carson was a neurosurgeon, and he has such a courtly manner. Seems like a nice guy, right? Might as well make him president.

In a wide-ranging interview with Capital Download, Carson endorsed expanding efforts to identify and treat the mentally ill before they commit acts of violence. He also suggested it might make sense to arm kindergarten teachers, and he rejected as wrong-headed proposals to restore the ban on military-style assault weapons...

“If I had a little kid in kindergarten somewhere I would feel much more comfortable if I knew on that campus there was a police officer or somebody who was trained with a weapon,” he says. Including the teacher? “If the teacher was trained in the use of that weapon and had access to it, I would be much more comfortable if they had one than if they didn’t.”

It’s a fair point. If kindergarten teachers were armed, maybe one of them could have shot and killed that 11 year-old in Tennessee before he went home and stole his dad’s gun and killed the eight-year-old. If only there were more omnipresent guns.

Anyhow Ben Carson has such a warm smile that we should probably make him the leader of the world’s most powerful country—unless a beloved celebrity jumps in this thing!

[Photo: AP]