this bjturk.commentary:
(re-)election '98

Once again, the American public is hurled into the exercise in futility known as an election year. In the reelections coming up this November, there is the potential for replacing one-third of the U.S. Senate and all of the House of Representatives. This has never happened, and unless people care enough about the jobs being done by their elected representatives, it never will. That is why I call this a "re-election."

With over 90% of all incumbents reelected in any given congressional election, stagnation has set in on Capitol Hill. Why are we so fearful of kicking out an irresponsible jerk because he/she has been in long enough to be a committee chair? In so doing, we make the statement that those with new ideas are without value because they will be no better than what we have now once they have been in long enough to have the same power. Are we really better off with the Congress that we have now? Come on.

In the 1994 congressional election in Arizona, out of four incumbents running, one relatively ineffective first-termer got the boot. To clarify things, Arizona has six congressional districts: one was a new district in '94 and one incumbent ran for the Senate. Those who had been in longer were easily reelected, and one of them ran unopposed (again). This kind of thing is happening across the country, and it's pathetic. In sum, Arizona added only one freshman by choice. If the one tossed were not both elected from a predominantly Republican district and a party-line Democrat (as in, "If my party wants me to jump off the Washington Monument to protest Social Security cuts, I will!"), she might have gone back too.

Even more pathetic is that they break the law, plead for mercy from the public, continue fund-raising and still run for reelection! Sure, Marion Berry wasn't a congressman, but doesn't it strike anyone as slightly odd that the mayor of the nation's capital was VIDEOTAPED doing drugs, went to jail, then was reelected after he did his time? Look how long it took former Speaker of the House Jim Wright (D-Texas) to leave after he was accused (apparently with some accuracy) of swinging a book deal designed to skirt campaign-finance laws!

There's an organization called T.H.R.O., which stands for Throw the Hypocritical Rascals Out. Its aim is to rid Congress of the firmly entrenched long-termers in favor of new blood and new ideas. While a lofty goal, its fruition will undoubtedly not occur until term limits force them out. Only then will new blood and new ideas create a new beginning for the United States. Maybe we'll get back some of the freedoms our forefathers fought and died for that we have allowed Congress to shamelessly take away. There's a lot more gone now than you may realize.

You'll always be broke if people don't pay you attention!
Your feedback is welcomed.

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