The theory is that election to Congress is tantamount to being dispatched to Washington on a looting raid for the enrichment of your state or district, and no other ethic need inhibit the feeding frenzy.

The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.

Remember Henry Adam's jest that the succession of presidents from Washington to Grant disproved the theory of evolution?

The phrase 'domestic cat' is an oxymoron.

Term limits would make Congress bolder, more independent, and less risk-averse.

Let's note, that in what I consider the most disgraceful performance abroad by an American official in my lifetime - something not exampled since Jane Fonda sat on the anti-aircraft gun in Hanoi to be photographed - Mr. McDermott said in effect, not in effect, he said it, we should take Saddam Hussein at his word and not take the President at his word. He said the United States is simply trying to provoke. I mean, why Saddam Hussein doesn't pay commercial time for that advertisement for his policy, I do not know.

The First Amendment...begins with the five loveliest words in the English language: 'Congress shall make no law'.