People much wiser than us have advised, “pick your battles.”

That message never got to Rep. Ed Emery.

The Lamar Republican running for the state Senate in 2010 attended a meeting last week in Jefferson City devoted to questioning the citizenship of President Barack Obama.

The birthers’ theory goes something like this: Obama wasn’t born in the United States, so he’s not a natural-born citizen. According to the Constitution, he is not eligible to be president, and should be removed from office.

Never mind the facts that Obama was born in Honolulu on Aug. 4, 1961, that the Honolulu Advertiser printed notice of his birth nine days later and that his birth certificate is on file with the state of Hawaii. Facts like those don’t matter to birthers, who have a conspiracy theory too compelling to ruin with facts.

Consider the 2000 election between President George W. Bush and Sen. Al Gore. That story proves that the Supreme Court is willing to hear arguments about presidential elections.

Therefore, it should speak volumes that the Supreme Court refused to hear arguments about Obama’s citizenship. That’s a Republican-leaning court, by the way.

What’s chilling is that Emery would waste constituents’ time giving that theory any credence.

In a statement, Emery said he attended the meeting for exactly that reason — to represent his constituents and defend the Constitution.

If he is truly interested in “representing his constituents,” then he should focus on real issues, not this citizenship drivel.

There is plenty of other pressing business in Missouri. We are facing budget cuts. We need jobs. We need to control spending. We need to figure out health care.

Emery should be fighting for those things. Not this work of fiction worthy of a David Baldacci book.