One of the best economic commentators in America, Peter Schiff of Euro-Pacific Capital, took his act to Congress on Tuesday to discuss the president’s economic stimulus plan introduced last week.

Schiff was thoroughly unimpressed with the Obama jobs plan and suggested a completely opposite approach.

What’s tremendously unfortunate is that last year, amid an election cycle that was as close to an economic awakening as we’ve had in America in modern times, Schiff ran for the U.S. Senate as a Republican in Connecticut. A general-election matchup between Schiff and Democrat Dick Blumenthal, the eventual winner and a total demagogue illiterate on matters involving economics and the size and scope of government, would have been one of the most instructive and useful elections the country could have. Unfortunately, also in the Republican primary was one Linda McMahon, a wrestling magnate with $50 million to spend and a major ego to satisfy. McMahon bought the GOP nomination and proceeded to spend her way into a landslide defeat which put one of the least-fit politicians in the country into the Senate without so much as a real discussion about what it is Senators should do.

Most Republicans on the panel understood Schiff’s message. Most Democrats acted like he was coming from Mars. That’s a shame.