Chupacabra Report

Last week National Journal magazine released their annual congressional vote ratings index, and concluded that the 2010 Congress was the most ideologically divided since their survey began in 1982; meaning that the ‘middle of the road’ once occupied by moderate Republicans and tory Democrats, is a thing of the past.

Most American voters are centrists, so who’s to represent them? From the way we draw districts, select candidates, fund their campaigns and elect representatives, something has broken down. I see the solutions coming from non-partisan redistricting, public financing of campaigns, (we own the airwaves, after all, and that’s the biggest expense) break-up of media concentration, and civics education. I’m not holding my breath.

Meanwhile, in the spirit of bi-partisanship, I would like to point out some politicians who have found the fortitude to cross party lines..

This month, twenty-seven first-term Republican congressmen voted against their leadership to terminate development of a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Pentagon settled on the Pratt and Whitney 135 engine, but Congress has insisted on funding a second engine built by General Electric/Rolls Royce to be built in Ohio by constituents of House Speaker John Boehner. This fight has been going on for years; this is a VTOL Stealth fighter, the most expensive weapon in history. With an annual defense budget of over $600 billion, exceeding that of all other countries combined, it’s time we stop looking at our procurement process as a big pork barrel to roll around. Kudos to these freshmen reps for standing up to their ‘leadership.