GovernmentExecutive.com

If you feel that Congress is not doing their job, in November, for all of the House and 1/3 of the Senate, DON'T VOTE FOR THE INCUMBENT. Try somebody new that may do something, instead of voting for someone just because you voted for them the last time.

Ray  | Thursday, July 17, 2008 |  09:10 AM

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VOTE THEM ALL OUT ! We have, at all levels of government, an entrenched, power-broker based system that depends on continuity. Nothing happens FOR the people, unless there is a risk to re-election, and then it is always after the fact, and to little avail. Note the "stimuli package", sub-prime, ethanol, and on and on.....
VOTE THEM ALL OUT !

M Onger  | Thursday, July 17, 2008 |  09:08 AM

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Congress historically always received low marks, yet incumbents are always re-elected. Why, because they bring jobs and money to the local district or to the state. When one looks at how well they are serving the country as a whole, both parties are terrible. Both parties constantly look to see how they can make the president look bad, no matter which party he's from rather than seeing what they can do to make America better. I'm a strong advocate for fixed terms for both sides of Congress. A maximum of 10 years for Representatives and 12 years for a Senator. Maybe then we can stop the desire to "destroy" the leaders of the other party as their primary goal and see a desire to do things to help America stay strong.

Bob Moore  | Thursday, July 17, 2008 |  08:48 AM

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And yet, incumbents are almost always re-elected.

Ted Bean  | Thursday, July 17, 2008 |  08:25 AM

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That's because many are upset that:
(1)Congress has not been more aggressive in trying to pass legislation this Administration opposes, and
(2) It hasn't had the backbone to confront the Administation on the war.

miklosis  | Thursday, July 17, 2008 |  07:12 AM

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Congress has abdicated their responsibility for domestic policy to the courts and their responsibility for foreign policy to the Executive. I agree with the previous commenter that 14% is too high.

If "political conditions" keep them from focusing on the long-term issues affecting the country, then as the lawmaking body in this country they have an obligation to change the law as required to reset the political conditions.

The fact is that those 535 individuals are joint caretakers of a system in which now the first and foremost thing that matters is the getting, keeping, and using of political power to benefit friends, keep "the party" in power, and punish not only enemies but anyone who might bring instability to the system. What's worse, in many cases the real dealmakers are not the 535 elected folks--it's their unaccountable chiefs of staff, who operate according to no rules whatsoever. I suspect that it's just as corrupt as regimes in other parts of the world, but that the level of sophistication in the corruption is high enough that most folks don't recognize it as corrupt.

Fixing it is possible, but it's going to take a lot of prayer plus the discipline on the part of the American people to (a) clean up their own houses and (b) begin to pressure Congress to change its ways. They can do that by beginning to vote incumbents out and by becoming less predictable.

average joe  | Thursday, July 17, 2008 |  06:10 AM

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That's a lot higher than they deserve, everyday this do nothing congress reveals how inept they are. The only way to fix it is for them to forfeit their pay since its totally undeserved

dan ketter  | Wednesday, July 16, 2008 |  04:35 PM

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