“A Republic, If You Can Keep It”

Today Congress comes back from summer vacation. Perhaps you hadn’t noticed. Perhaps you weren’t even aware that our congresspeople had been away. Well, they're back. And they have much to do. First, there is the ongoing debate about whether to arm the moderates in Syria. Sure, one or two things have changed on the ground, such as whether President Assad’s decision to bomb ISIS positions in northern Syria makes him an American ally and therefore a moderate by definition . . . which just goes to prove John McCain’s point that if we don’t start bombing someone now, pretty soon we won’t know whom to bomb.

We can also look forward to another panel or two on Benghazi, several more votes to repeal Obamacare and finally unholstering the smoking gun that will settle the mystery of the president’s birth. Our representatives need to act fast because all 435 seats in the House are up for grabs in early November – and those who sit in them are in a hurry to get home so they can cut ribbons, kiss babies and get sent right back to Washington.

Which almost all of them will. For despite the high-profile fall of Eric Cantor in Virginia, 91 percent of incumbents continue to win re-election year after year after year. This is particularly astonishing these days when public approval of Congress stands at a whopping 8 percent and a third of the voters don’t even know their congressperson’s name.

So get ready to go out and vote for what’s his name!