Wehrwolfen
Senior Member
- May 22, 2012
- 2,750
- 340
Doug Ross:
Many fine writers have observed that there exists a de facto Ruling Class in Washington. Once men and women get to Congress, no matter how inept, inane, or diabolical they prove to be, the power of incumbency makes dislodging them akin to prying a Reeses Cup from Michael Moores pudgy fingers.
An exhaustive study Reelection Rates of Incumbents in the U.S. House (PDF) http://www.thirty-thousand.org/documents/QHA-08.pdf
performed in 2006 illustrates the dramatic changes in reelection rates since Americas founding. It aggregates the results of every House election cycle between the years 1790 and 2006.
Over the years, the reelection rates of incumbents has increased steadily, likely the results of pork, quid pro quo funding to campaign contributors, and legislative skulduggery (the McCain-Feingold bill, for instance, could have been called The Incumbent Protection Act):
[Excerpt]
Read more:
Doug Ross @ Journal: Historical chart illustrates the biggest problem in America today: Congressional Recidivism
Many fine writers have observed that there exists a de facto Ruling Class in Washington. Once men and women get to Congress, no matter how inept, inane, or diabolical they prove to be, the power of incumbency makes dislodging them akin to prying a Reeses Cup from Michael Moores pudgy fingers.
An exhaustive study Reelection Rates of Incumbents in the U.S. House (PDF) http://www.thirty-thousand.org/documents/QHA-08.pdf
performed in 2006 illustrates the dramatic changes in reelection rates since Americas founding. It aggregates the results of every House election cycle between the years 1790 and 2006.
Over the years, the reelection rates of incumbents has increased steadily, likely the results of pork, quid pro quo funding to campaign contributors, and legislative skulduggery (the McCain-Feingold bill, for instance, could have been called The Incumbent Protection Act):
[Excerpt]
Read more:
Doug Ross @ Journal: Historical chart illustrates the biggest problem in America today: Congressional Recidivism
