There's a political race coming up that is much more
important than the last two presidential races. In
November of 2006, many of the seats in the House and
Senate will be up for re-election.
These men and women have been the key to what has
been allowed through Congress for six years. And for
some of the long-term incumbents, they have been
steering this country for more than 20 years.
Incumbents like these, whether they are Democrat or
Republican, need to be replaced. Term limits on
congressional seats have been discussed and squashed
over the years, and with good reason from the
prospective of incumbents in Congress. None of them want
to give up the lucrative seats that afford them great
insurance, perks from corporate conglomerates, or the
buzz from knowing how much power they really do hold.
The president can make as many promises as he wants,
but it is up to Congress to make a majority of them come
true. For the first five years of George Bush's
presidency, Congress bowed down and passed just about
anything he proposed. The Democrats would make some
occasional squeaks and squawks, but in the end, bills
that tore away at personal freedoms and entitlement
programs were made law.
With the indictments of Vice President Dick Cheney's
chief of staff and Texas Republican Representative Tom
DeLay, the Democrats began to see they didn't have to
toe the Republican line as they had in the past. The
two-hour closure of the Senate and the pulling of the
controversial House budget reduction bill have given
them a reason to get up in the morning.
But that is not enough for me. I would love to see a
thorough cleaning in Washington. Not only does the White
House need a clean sweep, but so do the House and
Senate. Both are in desperate need of a good scrubbing.
Too many members have been living in the palm of big
business. Republicans aren't the only ones who giggle at
the sound of their PAC bank accounts rising or look for
loopholes to build enormous re-election funds.
I wonder what the lobbyists would do if Americans
voted out every incumbent, no matter what their record
is? How would it feel to have brand new senators and
representatives in Congress that have no ties to big
business or special interest groups? A clean slate that
has no back-door deals and insidious trading that has
been going on for years.
Perhaps it's a pipe dream, but tossing out anyone who
has been in Congress more than 10 years would be a great
start to the sweeping the corruption out of Washington.
But it's going to a big broom, the will of millions
of American voters.
McKee, a wheelchair user, is a poet and producer.
You can e-mail her at chairgrrl@chairgrrl.com.
Her column runs on Tuesdays.
