DEVOTED BUT IGNORANT. California Congressman Chris Cox has been nominated by President Bush to be the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cox says he is a devoted student of Ayn Rand. Ms. Rand, you might remember, is famous for her philosophy called "Objectivism" and for writing several long books, including Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

There is one problem, however. Mr. Cox admits he has never read one of Ms. Rand's books.
Cox, however, has never read a Rand novel.

Does this make you groan? This is what we have become: a place where you can claim to be a devoted student of or violently opposed to ideas you have not studied or even read. Ignorance has moved up from bliss to virtue.