Why We Hate Congress! (HInt: It's OUR Fault!)

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It's true that while everyone does a lot of talking about Bush's lower than lower approval rating Congress's is even lower. The strange thing is that while many if not most of us will give Congress as a whole low marks we give our OWN Representatives and Senators fairly high marks. One big reason for the unpopularity of Congress is wasteful "pork-barrel" spending and ear-marks. Everybody complains about projects such as the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" - everyone, that is, except the handful of people who stand to benefit from that bridge! Basically, what's "pork" to everyone else may be just "bread and butter" to those who want that bridge or museum or whatever because it may create jobs and otherwise stimulate the local economy wherever it's built. When a Representative or Senator runs for election or reelection they hear from their constituents at town-hall meetings and other campaign events and they do what all politicians do - they make promises. They may hear from the voters that on one hand they want them to cut spending, they're sick of the earmarks and special interests but on the other hand they WANT the bacon brought home to their state or district because they really NEED it. So your guy goes to Washington and he (or she) is forced to play "Let's Make a Deal" with his or her Congressional colleagues; I'll vote for yours if you vote for mine is how it goes. Of course, they know their constituents won't be thrilled with the other guy's project which they're now supporting but they figure they want their pork more than they do NOT want the other guy's, right? Well, this is a question, are they right? See what I mean, for some of us they ARE absolutely right! We can talk a good game about balanced budgets and wasteful spending but when it comes to putting our own money where our mouths are and tightening our own belts a bit we don't want to do it. The way I see it, until a majority of the voters - and I mean a majority, not just a handful such as those of us here on myLot - makes it clear to our own members of Congress that we mean business when we say we want the pork-barrel spending and earmarks to end it will continue to be business as usual and we'll keep right on saying how much we disapprove of Congress although we'll have exactly what we voted for. Annie