The handsome doctor laughs at (other people's) death and runs for office.

Do we really want doctors representing us in Congress?

I'm linking to The Daily Mail's coverage of this story because it's got some nice pictures showing the physical attractiveness of the physician Milton Wolf and his family and in spite of the British paper's inability to write clearly about whether this man is running for the Kansas state senate or the U.S. Senate. (It's the latter, but DM repeatedly writes "Kansas Senate.")

Where do we get this idea that a background in medicine is particularly apt for lawmakers? How many doctors are there in Congress anyway?

2012 was again a landmark election in terms of physician candidates, with 50 physicians running as challengers or in open seats for federal office at one point during the cycle.  The 113th Congress will welcome two new physicians to the House of Representatives.

Twenty physicians are currently serving in the 113th Congress which include three senators, 16 representatives and one delegate. Seven of these members of Congress are graduates of AMPAC’s Candidate Workshop and/or Campaign School.

I know some people are leaning toward assisting Wolf — here's Instapundit — but why empathize with a man who flaunts his lack of empathy? Here's the direction I lean: What is going on with this promotion of doctors in the American political scene? There's something odd and excessive about our respect for them. We must trust and depend on them when we have medical problems, but why are we bent on installing them in political office? Let's think more carefully about the sort of minds that go into medicine and whether we are not overvaluing them as political candidates.