Dems vs. Reps

Ed Morrissey at Hotair.com

It took Republicans twelve years to dissipate their trust and credibility with voters after taking control of Congress, and six years of one-party governance in Washington.

It has taken Democrats less than a third of both time frames to utterly destroy their standing with voters on nearly every issue. That’s quite an achievement, and impressive in its own way.

Well, I don't underestimate the GOP's talents in this area. After they get in, if they do, I won't be surprised if they destroy their own credibility in approximately no time flat. We may well see some anticipatory self-destruction before they even get to Washington.

For me, the problem is at least as much about entrenched incumbency as it is about party. Without term limits, nothing much will change about how Congress operates, because it will remain a fundamentally corrupting institution. An incentive system of sufficient perversity will eventually make a miscreant of every saint. All members of Congress could be replaced by angels at the next election, and the eventual result would be a herd of corrupt angels. What can we possibly expect when we instead start with a Charlie Rangel and then allow him to be exposed to that environment for 40 years? What we should expect is exactly what we got, or worse.

Byron