2009 Elections Kick Off the Secret War for Congress

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I agree that gerrymandering is bad for the country. We don't need a system that gives an unfair advantage to incumbents. And there's a pretty good argument that it gives an unfair advantage to the fringes in both parties.
But since the 1800's, there's been no motivation for the party in charge to relinquish the power to perpetuate their own terms in office. Too bad the constitution didn't provide a framework for dealing with that.

BillInStl of MO 6:34PM October 22, 2009

but the time for bipartisanship is past. The Democrats need to begin operating just as the Republicans did when they had their hands on all the levers. There is no point in pursuing bipartisanship when one side has no intention of compromise or cooperation. When only one side compromises, it’s called capitulation.

Ned of TX 6:11PM October 16, 2009

I'd prefer to see redistricting done by an "independent" commission in each state with a mandate to equalize the number of registered Republicans and Democrats in each district (to the extent possible). This would force each party's candidates to move to the center, rather than pandering to the fringe, in order to be elected. That would be a good start toward ending the partisan bickering so that those in DC might actually think about governing.
Then we could pass two laws to take some of the big money out of the process:
1) Corporations (to include PACs, unions, etc.) are not "people" under the Bill of Rights, and money spent on lobbying is not tax-deductible.
2) No one is allowed to contribute time, money, or services to any candidate they are not eligible to vote for.
I'm sure the weasels would eventually figure out new loopholes, but I'd love to give it a try.

Thoroughly disgusted with them all of VA 6:11PM October 15, 2009

It's time for the President to show us his ability to work with the opposition to promote THIS Country's interests.

William of TX 8:51AM October 15, 2009

With all we've seen of our Senate, Congress and White House in action for the last 9 months, and most has not been pretty, the coming 2010 elections give us a chance to get OUR country back. Vote out ALL incumbents this next election. That would put the confusion back into the Government and out of the public's minds as has been for the past 80+ years. The terrorists are people like bin Laden & Zawarkasi (whatever his name was), but in fact are people like Rockefeller, DuPont & Hearst. Big money is what's been killing America for years. Those with big bucks couldn't care less what happens to America as long as they can profit till the end. Lately they have a very charismatic puppet, Obama, leading the confusion against the American people. Slowly but surely people are waking up, hopefully we can do something soon to turn this around. My father gave it all he had during WWII and I, for one, will not allow the "greedies" to ruin this country. I hope we can all band together and tear down our governing system before they make it illegal for us to do anything except survive...

Eric of AL 5:19PM October 14, 2009