Partisanship should not be a factor in Congressional races

Webster’s dictionary defines partisanship as “a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause or person.” This is an important clarification to make because many current events would seemingly seek to append “to the point of insanity,” onto our definition of the word. Our country operates on an extremely partisan system, and that is not likely to change anytime soon; however, partisanship minus common sense is nothing more than zealotry.

Due to delays caused by Hurricane Gustav, the state of Louisiana was not able to hold some of its Congressional elections until this past Saturday. While there are hundreds of members of the House of Representatives, one of these particular races was of massive importance because of who was involved. Democratic Congressman William Jefferson has served his district in Louisiana for over 10 years, but in that time, he managed to be raided by the FBI multiple times and be stripped of his committee membership by his own party.

With that in mind, one would logically think it would be impossible for him to continue in Congress very long. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Despite all of the severe corruption charges levied against him by our own government, Jefferson was able to win re-election in 2006. His only true challenge came from Karen Carter, another Democrat, who despite receiving the endorsement of almost all local media and people of influence, still fell short.

While the turnover in the House of Representatives is only about 2 percent each year, one would like to believe that among that small amount would lie those who have marked bills hidden in their refrigerator found by the FBI. This did not hold true two years ago though, so Jefferson’s most recent election bid last week was one of the most intriguing in the country. With all precincts reporting, Anh Cao, a Republican, was able to win the seat from Jefferson, but only by a 53 to 47 percent margin. Apparently, 16 criminal counts that include racketeering, bribery, money laundering and obstruction of justice is not nearly enough for 47 percent of his district to turn against him.

Since it is likely most people do not want felons running the government, why was it so difficult to oust Jefferson? The simple explanation in the most recent election would be that 47 percent of people would simply not vote for a Republican, but that same reasoning fails when applied to his election bid of 2006. In that case, he was able to defeat a member of his own party. The explanation may then lie in the fact that Webster’s indicates partisanship is not only the domain of parties, but also of people.

The most recent Gallup Poll has the Congressional Job Approval Rate at 19 percent, but America still overwhelmingly re-elected most of this highly unpopular group this year. This illogical split can only be based in the logic that, “Congress is corrupt, but not my congressman.” This type of partisanship moves beyond the simple bounds of our party system and attaches a bond between the electorate and a single person. And unfortunately, since most voters cannot or do not carefully follow their congressman’s actions, this bond is all too easy to form.

It takes little effort to develop an opinion on the president because the media scrutiny upon him is constant. People know what he has done, what he is doing and what he is planning to do, but when it comes to a person’s congressman, most know little more than a name and party affiliation. Since that is true, since he was a good enough candidate to garner initial election, one can only assume he is still fit to serve each time his job is reopened. After this occurs for long enough, a loyalty develops toward that official as he becomes “your congressman,” to the point where even federal charges are not enough to change minds.

This past presidential election was a referendum on who Americans thought was most capable of leading our nation out of our current quagmires; however, by saddling our new president with an ineffectual Congress that is less popular than even our current president, the electorate is hindering progress before it can even begin. Every two years there is an opportunity to completely overhaul the House of Representatives, but instead of embracing this great chance, our nation continues to squander it. When the voters do not hold their individual congressmen accountable, they invite the corruption of men like Jefferson because, as Congress proves again and again, it is illogical to continually expect the wrong method to produce the right results.