Friday, September 4, 2009

Random thought on public officeholders

by Smitty

It just occurred to me, reading through a blog post on Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN), that more people know more names of more Congresscritters than ever.

Whether or not that level of attention has arrived in time to stave off economic collapse in this country is another question.

Whatever emerges on the other side of this crisis administration, I think the sun has set on the days of Congresscritters forming a quasi-aristocracy.

4 comments:

  1. I'd curve the optimism at this point. If your congresscritters are anything like my congresscritters, they're in because of a machine. Gerrymandering, influence peddling and special interest contributions make them more and more difficult to dislodge from the taxpayer's flesh.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @K,
    Oh, absolutely. My district hasn't had blood circulation above the neck since it went blue ~20 years ago.

    However, if we increasingly put effort into campaigning for non-dolts, we should get blood circulation into even the bluest areas.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I imagine the polling which shows Congress at its lowest approval in decades is because of the familiarity breeds contempt axiom. Thanks to town halls, we do know them better now. But once things settle down, I am pessimistic about the public continuing to pay attention.

    Then again, the MSm media will probably want revenge for any republican who replaces a Democrat in Congress . They are likely to hound the next Congress, exposing all warts in the process. So you may be right. I would hate for thechange to be motivated by MSM coverage rather than asense of civic duty.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Jeffords,
    I might be inclined to agree, but too many people have been dragged too far out of the comfort zone.

    My old dad is getting politicized. "Politics is no longer a spectator sport." Now, getting him to do much beyond complain is another conversation, but still: this is a big deal.

    ReplyDelete