One of the main reasons I set up this blog after having retired from Blogging years ago is that I often want to respond to someone on Twitter, but would need 1,400 characters instead of 140. Brevity, schmevity.
House leaders are so awful at basic politics is b/c they come from very safe districts. They may not have had a real race in years, if ever.
— DrewMTips (@DrewMTips) October 12, 2013
This feels true to me. But let me ask a Devil's Advocate question.
Is this a bug, or is it a feature?
At first blush it seems that it clearly is the former. However, consider it from the perspective of an originalist framework. The House was to be responsive to the people, and to be the closest facet of our system of governance to pure democracy. The Senate, on the other hand, was to balance this by being insulated from the push of the political winds by being appointed by legislatures, rather than by democratic vote. The 17th Amendment changed this dynamic.
If Twitter existed before the 17th Amendment, it is easy to imagine someone Tweeting "Senate leaders are so awful at basic politics because they may not have had to face a real election in years, if ever." That was by design. That current House leaders may have the same insulation may mean that the original conceptual balance between the chambers has been flipped. I am starting to think this part is true.
The Devil's Advocate question is, bug or feature?
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By and large I am going to rely on Twitter to be the 'comments' section here. You can submit comments, but moderation is enabled, and nearly all of the time I am not even going to check the moderation queue (although in some circumstances, I just might).