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FIRE THEM ALL: Dramatic new poll says most Americans would boot every single member of Congress

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Implications for the next election are significant.

Fire them all. That's the conclusion from a NBC News/WSJ poll out today that asked Americans if they would vote and replace every member of Congress. The good news? The chance is coming.

Highlights

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
10/11/2013 (1 decade ago)

Published in Politics & Policy

Keywords: Poll, Congress, incumbent, vote, replace

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - An unprecedented 60 percent of polled Americans say that every member of Congress, including their own representatives, should be thrown out of office and replaced. None should be spared according to the results.

The 60 percent figure is the highest ever result for the question.

Americans are upset with Congress for a litany of reasons, but much of it boils down to their inability to do their job of running the country. Americans are tired of the apparently petty squabbles, the inability to raise the debt ceiling or to agree on a responsible budget, and the stark refusal of both sides to negotiate in good faith.

There are two aspects to the current problem. One is that both sides have devoted followings of citizens who believe strongly in their political positions. For the right, many Republicans can do no wrong and for the left Obama is a hero. This forces each side to look at all issues through the political lens offered by their politicians which naturally casts their favorite in a rosy light while all opponents are childish and corrupt.

The second aspect, and this is key, is that they are all very much alike. In fact, they are working together against a common challenge, which is you, the voter.

In other words, Americans are right to want to fire everybody in Congress because even your dearest representative is far more interested in their own reelection than in your well-being. That scathing indictment applies to all, both right and left. Now, as more and more Americans begin to realize this, the desire to cast out the incumbents in favor of a new slate of fresh faces is growing.

Americans will soon have their chance. Mid-term elections are coming in 2014 and voters will have the opportunity to put their votes where their polls are, meaning that if the 60 percent ire rating keeps up then a lot of incumbents will be asked to leave their cozy offices and apartments this coming spring.

Of course, people do a lot of talking in the run up to an election, but always they resort to voting for incumbents choosing the lesser of two evils, or the evil they know to an untested candidate.

The result is we often end up with the same Congress over and over; a situation where the U.S. House of Representatives actually has less turnover than the British House of Lords.

In that case, we end up with the government we deserve. Still, a 60 percent "fire them all" result is fairly unprecedented. It just may translate to frustration at the polls and it could just change our country.

Then again, it might not.

Read the full poll here (.pdf)

A birth foretold: click here to learn more!

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