ABSTRACT
If the federalists could observe our current predicament, they would find many aspects of it concerning. Rather than electing fit characters to represent us, we have elected characters from movies and television. The large pool of concerned and educated citizens the founders once imagined would make for the best political candidates has become a puddle of famous and unknowledgeable ideologues. This chapter reviews key findings from the empirical studies in Chapter 4 and places them in the context of current research on political amateurs. Although current research on political amateurs such as celebrities in congress argues that amateurs mostly conform to political norms once they enter office, rendering any differences in ideological extremity, style, or political skills null, I maintain that electing unqualified celebrities to positions of power, particularly the United States Presidency, is harmful to democracy in the long run. Although the material costs associated with electing celebrities are difficult for most Americans to perceive, the effects of poor government leadership are often lagged.
