I have a vague memory of a man, about two centuries ago, being elected to the British Parliament. As soon as he was elected, he gave a speech in which he told the electorate that he thanked them for their trust, but that they mustn't believe he would do everything for them that they wanted, unless it served the interests of the country first. That's exactly idea behind Congressional elections. All of sudden, though, people, long before us, got caught up in what their Representative or Senator could do for them...

The upshot of all this is that the people is the ultimate cause of the corruption in Congress. Most of us haven't been part of the corruption... we simply didn't pay attention, and they've simply gotten more brazen about it. The only way to stop it is to prove that the majority of us are not corrupt, and that we won't stand for it in them.

By the way, Britain has it's problems in this area as well. Did you see the stuff about the expense reports for the British MPs?

Most folks who work for the government take that same oath. I was a civil servant just out of high school, and I took it, including the bit about supporting and defending the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I just never expected them to be elected to office.

By the way, HeatherD, it's not just the military that uphold the oath. FBI agents, CIA officers, Treasury agents, most civil servants, they all take the same oath. I don't work for the government anymore, and it still means something to me.

As Joe Friday says above... nothing will happen to Nancy Pelosi. Fox will keep pushing the story, but the other media outlets won't touch it. The people in her district don't watch Fox and, when they hear that the entire country is laughing at her, will be so smug in their obvious superiority over all of us, they will continue to reelect her.

I'll buy conservative, but I believe that their values differ greatly from what we see from the current crop of Republicans. In Glenn's words, if the difference is "Progressive" and "Progressive-lite," does it really matter which party is in power?

You're spot on about the debt to the Chinese, but I think the rest of it goes deeper. The Obama Administration is clearly doing all it can to take control of the private sector. Suppose next year, or maybe 2011, the only choice that Americans will be GM (read: Chinese) cars?

Even better... a lot of the procedures that Canadian patients need is outsourced to U.S. hospitals. Most potential career-ending UK sports injuries are treated here. There's a reason for that!

He has to. If he waits until after the next Congressional election, he won't have the votes to pass it. He may not have them now...

The Republicans are desperate, so they're trying to co-opt the tea parties. This is the truly sad thing to me. It won't be long before the Republicans try to take credit for the whole thing, and the mainstream media will look like they were right the whole time.

Guys, she's a Chicago Democrat. Did you really expect anything different?

Principles and virtues have been rare in Congress or any recent Administration. Politics reigns supreme. The only way to stop Obama's agenda is to remove his Congressional support, and hopefully limit the number of "crises" he can invent.