A Review of the Book, "This Town"

Did you know that most elected senators and congressmen never come home again? They may visit and establish offices locally, at least as long as they are running for election; but once their political career is over, they seem to lose all ties to the locality that elected them in the first place. And their political career is never really over. This book tells all.

This Town was written by Mark Leibovich in 2013. It starts with a funeral, that of Tim Russert, and ends with a party hosted by Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn. In between, Mr. Leibovich describes the insider goings on in Washington, D.C. The first word that came into my mind while I was reading this book was silly.

Washington is no longer populated by Democrats or Republicans, but by millionaires, all out for the same thing - fame and fortune. The job D.C. seems to do best is to celebrate itself.  The players in D.C. have been heard to call the voters stupid, and maybe we are for electing such dolts; but I think the voters are getting smarter and elect the idiots to get them out of our neighborhoods.  We know that D.C. doesn't care about us, and that one person will have a hard time making a dent in the insider goings on.
The voters are wising up to the players, and prefer to ignore them by banishing them to D.C.

More and more of the people elected to Congress, elect to become players for real after they leave public office. They stay in D.C. and get jobs with lobbying firms, law firms, super PACs, and anyone else who will pay for the privilege of having a former politician, elected or not, on their team. It doesn't seem to matter what beliefs the politician had when he or she was elected; all that matters is who will pay him or her the greatest sum of money.

And the media plays along. On page 302, Mr Liebovich states, "The media seems less concerned with being in tune with America than they are with promoting their own brands and worshipping celebrities."

Our so-called leaders haven't a clue as to what is happening in Ohio, or Iowa, or even California or New York. All they seem to care about is who will be at the next party; who can they get to know better; how can they get to be insiders. One statistic that really struck me was this: In 1974, 3% of retiring members became lobbyists in D.C. ( per The Atlantic). Now 50% of senators and 42% of congressmen do. Which asks the question - what are these people in Washington for, to serve the people who elected them or to get rich and powerful? Maybe we should wall off the city and start a new Capital somewhere else, like in Oklahoma.

As a side note, our former congressman, Steve LaTourette, has established a Super PAC, Defending Main Streeet. Does anyone know if he still has a home in Lake County?