The Washington Post has wandered into rural Indiana in search of an explanation for the partisan bitterness and fridlock in the nation's capital. And it found the answer -- it's all the voters' fault!
GNAW BONE, Ind. — Meet the people of Indiana's 9th Congressional District. If you want to blame somebody for what Washington has become, blame them.
In the past decade, as mounting voter disaffection created an angry cycle of “wave elections” in American politics, nobody rode the waves harder than the people of the district south of Indianapolis.
They sent a Democrat to Congress. Then a Republican. Then a Democrat. Then a Republican again. All in very quick succcession.
Among 435 congressional districts, this is the only one that has flipped three times since 2000. That makes it the epicenter of a national indecision that has helped wipe out Washington's centrists and filled the Capitol with fractious partisans and frustrating gridlock.
Now, they're already talking about another election.
But people here have wave fatigue. How many times can you be persuaded to throw the bums out before you decide that they're all bums, every one?
Dumb Hoosier hicks for not knowing what they want. And silly them for voting out people whose performance they don't like. The story gets around to mentioning that from 1964 to 1996, "there were 17 House elections in this district. Lee Hamilton, a centrist Democrat, won every one." Ah, a solution is at hand. Just elect another "centrist Democrat" who will get along with everybody and not be so stubborn!
Actually, if every other district were like Gnawbone, Congress might be improved. Representatives who know they're under constant scrutiny and liable to be recalled tend to pay close attention to the folks back home, and isn't that sort of the point in the House?
Comments
The Post just wanted to run a story with the GNAW BONE dateline. Everything else was filler.
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