I saw Clinton (Bill) on the Daily Show last week. He made a wonderfully insightful comment about the correlation between raising money and the political atmosphere in Washington. His thesis: because the race to raise money for reelection is nearly constant (always true for Representatives and for at least 4 years for Senators) they must spend every weekend traveling back to their home states to raise money. He said it used to be 7 months in Washington and 5 months at home. Today, politicians don't get the chance to meet their fellow colleagues at night for dinner, hang out socially, etc. Plus, he said, they are so tired from all of this travel and fundraising they are always in a bad mood. This alone, he believes, contributes greatly to the divisive politics of today.
It makes a lot of sense to me, and seems like another reason to work out public financing of elections...
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