Facing the numbers

After the Jack Abramoff business we've been (rightfully) inundated with, government scandal has been a hot topic for pundits and the media. A recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows that 81 percent of voters find government corruption extremely or very important in the upcoming election. \nIn a rare case of voter realism, the poll also showed that in the past month, 40 to 50 percent of respondents believe that most members of Congress are corrupt. I flirted with idealism for the briefest of moments, but I've resigned myself to the fact that, like always, more than 90 percent of them will be re-elected.\nWhat's most problematic is that although a healthy percentage of people believe Congress is corrupt, fewer than 20 percent believe their representative is corrupt. Obviously, the numbers don't match up.\nIt appears that average voters hold the same relationships with their representatives that Cubs fans hold with their beloved team: deep down, a Cubs fan knows the team isn't technically good, but he or she nonetheless has incredible faith in the impossible. Likewise, the average voter probably knows that his or her congressperson has at some point been involved in some shady dealings, but wants to believe that said representative is at heart a good person. (Just to clear up any confusion, this is just an analogy -- it's in no way meant to imply that the Chicago Cubs are somehow involved in illicit political deals.)\nOr, alternatively, the average voter just doesn't want to believe that he or she could have been such a poor judge of character in the first place.\nEither way, whether or not most members of Congress are truly corrupt is in some ways less relevant than the fact that many voters believe it to be true. After all, most individual criminal wrongdoing will likely go undetected, and one such incident is unlikely to permanently change the face of American politics in any real way. \nBut, the dissatisfaction many have with Congress is more striking, and at this point might even be beneficial to constituents. As so many polls with government corruption as the central theme have recently popped up in various media outlets, there is the potential they will encourage more Howard Dean-style campaigning in the upcoming years, wherein lobbyists are disavowed in favor of small-time private donors. \nPublic pressure, in the end, would be infinitely more effective than legislation in curbing the political influence of lobbyists.\nYet if it turns out that the next few election seasons are more of the same, there is also the potential for even greater voter apathy and ultimately, an even greater shortage of the kinds of national dialogues that foster progress and \ninnovation. \nWhile things won't change overnight in either direction, a small change could instigate a long-term evolution. \nOnly time will tell what happens, but my hope is that this year we see something new.