Most in Congress corrupt — really?

Today's Rasmussen Reports poll "finds that 46% of Likely U.S. Voters now view most members of Congress as corrupt. That’s up seven points from June and the highest finding yet recorded.  Just 29% think most members are not corrupt, and another 25% are not sure."

You can find the full story here.

I suppose we ought not be shocked by the results. In the last generation, we've lived in a world in which news from Washington, D.C., reaches us immediately. And a good bit of that news involves scandal of some sort. The "good" stuff, the mundane stuff that makes up 95 percent of congressional work makes bad TV or otherwise somehow gets lost in the modern methods of transmission.

But the idea that 46 percent of Americans believe that most Congresscritters are actually corrupt pushes one back on one's heels. Who elects these people? Do we consciously vote for crooks? Or, are the crooks only the folks next door, not the guy or gal we actually vote for?

If this poll is anywhere in the ballpark, it's sad to think we live in such a culture of suspicion of elected leaders. And, 20 years from now, will a new set of voters think 56 percent of their elected officials are corrupt. If so, we need a revitalization of faith in the American representative system ... now.