Republic of Incumbistan

I wanted to talk about this article because I think it is touching on something a little unique, although also a fairly common phenomenon in political studies. What is unique is the level of animosity towards Congress right now. I think there is definitely a feeling that Congress (not just Republicans mind you) haven't done anything useful during this, the 109th Congress. Sure, they have bickered over some very hot topics, but most of those were meaningless to improving the quality of life for most Americans.

Unfortunately, this will probably not lead to a significant change in Congress during this year's mid-term elections. One of the biggest problems in modern politics, in my opinion, is the power of incumbents. It is nearly impossible to unseat an incumbent. Since that is the case, politicians don't need to be as in tune to the voters and instead can pay attention to the special interests that fill their war chests (I should note that I am writing this after getting some relatively depressing news - Charles Rangel is my Congressman - and might have more animosity towards incumbents than on a normal day).

Friends of mine might be surprised by my disdain for incumbents. After all, I was very much opposed to Ned Lamont's candidacy. But the truth is that I don't mind seeing Lieberman go, if it is for the right reasons and he loses to the right candidate. I didn't like Lamont because I found his anti-war message to be shallow (not all anti-war messages are, but his certainly seemed like it). As it turns out, it seems that most of his positions are shallow as well, which is why I continue to oppose him despite finding positions where I strongly disagree with Lieberman. If someone in the Howard Dean mold were running against Lieberman, I wouldn't be quite so mad.

The problem is that it is so hard to unseat an incumbent that you have to latch onto anyone who has a chance. As I said above, I find out more and more things I disagree with Lieberman on and so I can understand all the problems liberals have with him (Terry Shiavo and gay marriage to name two issues). But the left had to choose between a moderate who would finance some of the campaign on his own, or a moderate incumbent who seemed unbeatable just a while ago.

In the end though, part of the problem is the voters themselves (although campaign laws certainly help incumbents too). If you read the article, you will see that although voters are sick of Congress, most people think their Congressman is doing a great job. This has been a very common phenomenon that political scientists have known about for a while. And it is this seemingly illogical thinking that helps too many incumbents stay in office even when people know Congress isn't really working for them.