The percentage of incumbents who won re-election last fall was a stunning 98 percent. Only a handful of races are competitive. Yet outside the Beltway people want the government off their backs. That s why more than two-thirds of Americans back Social Security privatization. If you want to see common sense manifested in Congress, then competitive House races must occur.
Nothing disturbs an incumbent more than a well-funded challenger.
The effect of contribution limits is spending limits, and the effect of spending limits is the stifling of political opposition. We are told that the political system is awash in obscene amounts of money. And if you consider money as a proxy for information, there s a strong case that voters need more spent on campaigns. A 1996 survey by The Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University found that two-thirds of those interviewed could not name their representative. Of course, the conceit is that political spending is not about disseminating information but about bribing politicians.