Will We Ever Learn?

Mid Term elections are less than a week away, and millions of citizens will be racing to the polls to get their vote in.  A Pollster.com estimate believes total voter turnout will be around 50%, a new record for mid term elections.  People seem to be extremely enthusiastic about this particular election, in large part because approval rating of the federal government could not get much worse.  A recent CBS/New York Times poll indicates that 82% of the country disapproves of the way Congress is handling it's job.  That's madness!  If Congress was a stock, it would probably be in danger of becoming delisted from the NYSE by this point.  The question these polls don't answer is WHY do people disapprove so much?
    
I believe the reason is that neither Democrats or Republicans have any confidence that Congress will do anything to help their quality of life.  Even though major healthcare and financial reform legislation was passed this year, only 29% of Americans believe anything was passed this year to significantly improve their life.  A survey on RasumssenReports.com show 81% believe the current Congress primary goal is not to serve them, but working toward furthering their careers.  This could be due to the lack of meaningful legislation being passed, the increased amount of attack ads presented in all forms of media, or due to the way most Americans focus their attention on the negative aspects of public figures.

This dissatisfaction with Congress is not a recent trend.  A poll done by Gallop shows that approval ratings for both parties started trending downward since the start of 2002, and other than a brief rise after the presidential election in 08, have continued their decent. This seems to indicate voter's are dissatisfied when Republicans run Congress, and when Democrats are running it.   No matter which party takes control of the House and Senate this election, I have little faith that they will do anything to significantly change the opinion of Congress in this country. 

My solution?  Take a look at the resume of some of the candidates you will vote for this election.  Don't just look at their position on the issues, find out if they are someone that gets things done.  Compare this candidate to the incumbent they are running against, and vote for who you think will be a more effective politician, not just one that agrees with you.  Also compare the major party candidates with any third party candidates running, and see how their record stacks up.  If voters continue to vote down the party line and expect different results from our men and women in Congress, shame on us.