Reading all the follow-up reports of Indiana Senator, Dick Lugar’s loss in the Republican primary to Tea Party favorite, Richard Mourdock, I’ve yet to see any journalist fully address a very good reason why voters might have been disenchanted with their long-ensconced incumbent: Lugar’s non-residency in his home state. The man had not maintained a residence in the state he represented since 1977, according to a report at Politico. <\/p>\n
Think about that: that’s forty-five years this guy went without being an actual, physical resident of the state he supposedly served. When you want to know what’s wrong with our Congress and why so many of our elected representatives are so out of touch with the needs of the folks at home, Lugar’s a great starting point. Think about that some more: for forty-five years the suave, elegant, sophisticated Lugar lived the good life on the taxpayers’ dime while he wouldn’t stoop to live among those Hoosier hayseeds who kept electing him. There’s a word for that:
\nArrogance.<\/p>\n
As the good voters of Indiana, Utah and Maryland have shown the rest of the nation, it is high time for this kind of condescending arrogance of too-long serving senators and congressmen to end. We trust them with our votes and send them to represent our interests within the system and the system wins by corrupting them to the point that they no longer care about our interests but only their own self-preservation as members of the governing elite. It is indeed true that power corrupts and with these people their gradually accumulating power corrupts them to the point they no longer are representatives of their constituents, they exist purely to represent themselves and to do whatever is necessary within the isolated confines of congressional Washington to preserve their own privileged existence.<\/p>\n
Enough! The voters in every state should look very closely at their members of Congress who are currently tasked with the responsibility of representing them. If they resemble Lugar in any small way, they should be replaced with someone to whom it has been made abundantly clear, “Don’t go there and sell us out for your own self-interest or you will be out on your ass.”
\nRichard Lugar may be the nicest guy in the world; but can you imagine the Founding Fathers ever expecting any elected representative to the peoples’ Congress they created not living in his district for almost half a century? OK guys, you can stop spinning; he’s history.<\/p>\n
Do you know what really sums it all up for me about the properness of Lugar’s defeat? Guess who was on television today mourning his loss? Not his Republican colleagues but:<\/p>\n