Who is the craziest member of Congress?

Who is the craziest member of Congress? Who is the one representative who should strike fear and loathing into the soul of every American voter?

Rep. Allen West

It could be Republican Rep. Allen West of Florida, who looks around the Capitol and sees communists everywhere. It could be GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has said we have an anti-American, gangster government and once claimed that the animated film, “The Lion King,” promotes a gay lifestyle.

Then again, it could be Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri (another Republican – sorry but the GOP dominates this competition) who famously said a woman who suffers a “legitimate rape” can will her body to repel a resulting pregnancy. He had previously called doctors who perform abortions “terrorists.”

Rep. Paul Broun

More likely, Rep. Paul Broun, a Georgia Republican, would edge out Akin, his colleague on the House Science Committee, in the crazy category. Broun recently gave a speech in which said evolution and the study of embryo development and the Big Bang Theory, are all "lies straight from the pit of Hell." He also said that the Bible “teaches how to run all of public policy and everything in society.”

All of public policy? Hmmm. I don’t recall any references – New or Old Testament – about the proper amount of National Science Foundation research funding for nanotechnology, or the relative benefits of NASA’s Mars rover.

Actually, Broun may soon face competition for the Congressional Crazytown award, based on some of the up-and-coming pols serving in the Arkansas state House.

GOP Rep. Loy Mauch has been outed by the Arkansas Times for his pro-slavery, pro-Confederacy letters to the editor over the past decade. In letters to another local paper, the Democrat-Gazette, Mauch vehemently defended slavery and repeatedly suggested Jesus condoned it.

A member of a secessionist group known as the League of the South, Mauch claims that God supported the Confederacy and the Confederate flag is a “symbol of Jesus Christ,” according to MSNBC. The candidate for re-election has also claimed that Abraham Lincoln, the historic icon of the Republican Party, was a war criminal who followed the political beliefs of Stalin, Marx and Nazi Germany.

Meanwhile, one of Mauch’s GOP colleagues in the House, Jon Hubbard, has written a book claiming slavery was “a blessing in disguise” for African Americans.

And a Republican candidate for the House Charlie Fuqua, says children who don’t demonstrate “respect for parents” should be put to death, according to the Times. A former member of the Arkansas Legislature, Fuqua wrote in his 2012 book that “God’s Law” that the guidelines for killing rebellious children is spelled out in the Bible.

Fuqua cautions that the death penalty procedure would “rarely be used,” according to The Huffington Post, but the threat of capital punishment would “be a tremendous incentive for children to give proper respect to their parents.”

Fuqua’s book previously came under fire for advocating the expulsion of all Muslims from the United States. In response to his critics, Fuqua said he believes his view on Muslims and Islam were “fairly well-accepted by most people.”