The New Congress

So the new Congressional session opens up sometime this week, so I thought I'd share the following article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/21/AR2010122103054.html?hpid=topnews

Arlen Specter, departing longtime Senator of Pennsylvania offered up those thoughts about a month ago, alongside other departing congressmen.  Some of the speeches were lightly attended, some not at all, regardless of how long or reputable their public service had been.

Ideologies are threatening to doom our political process.

This is America -- we do not elect parties into power; we elect people.  A person, a single congressman has the ability to vote whichever way he (or she) decides to on any given piece of legislation.

This has not been the case as of late, especially within the Senate, where unless 60 people can agree (insert topic) is to be discussed, there will be a filibuster, regardless of whether it's needed or any of that.

Discourse and dialogue have left the arena, to be replaced by party pandering and extremism.

This is the reason Arlen Specter originally left the Republican party (I believe the quote was something along the lines of the Democrats more willing to have someone who agrees with them 30% of the time than the Republicans are to someone who disagrees 70%).  Of course that was all rhetoric, and Specter was voted out of his new parties primary.  I guess he just didn't agree with them enough.  How sad and pathetic is it that a moderate state like Pennsylvania can't even elect a moderate Senator anymore?  If Specter had stayed in the Republican party he would've gotten voted out in their primary by Toomey, regardless of anything involving healthcare, the stimulus, or TARP.

The sad part is the change has to come from within.  It has to happen in Washington, because switching to another system simply would be finding a way to hand power over to a far more formal party system.

Like I said before, this is America, we elect people, not parties.

Or at least that's the way it ought to be.

-- Knuttel