At 20:24 -0500 10/31/97, TruthMonger wrote:

* In August, the Boston Globe profiled the Taiwan National Assembly (which specializes in constitutional issues), where it is fairly common for the minority New Party to filibuster by merely grabbing the microphone and physically restraining majority-party members so that they cannot call for votes. Fights break out, sometimes bloody ones. Said a local political science professor, "It may not be civilized, but it's efficient" because citizens respond by re-electing the aggressive legislators.

I'd probably have a lot more respect for Congresscritters if they cared enough about any issue to physically fight about it. Maybe we could issue them weapons, too; then term limits would become a moot point. (Who would win if Jesse Helms and Diane Feinstein had a fight to the death? The American citizens.) A suitable quote from Monty Python: We would like to apologize for the way politicians are represented in this programme. It was never our intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed, political time-servers who are concerned more with their personal vendettas and private power struggles than the problems of government, nor to suggest at any point that they sacrifice their credibility by denying free debate on vital matters in the mistaken impression that party unity comes before the well-being of the people they supposedly represent, nor to imply at any stage that they are squabbling little toadies without an ounce of concern for the vital social problems of today. Nor indeed do we intend that viewers should consider them as crabby ulcerous self-seeking vermin with furry legs and an addiction to alcohol and certain explicit sexual practices which some people might find offensive. We are sorry if this impression has come across. In fact, they could run this at the top of every hour on C-SPAN. I'll call my cable company.