A Pox on Both Houses

Following may fit why I'm a devout and practicing Independent.
But of note: I think that politicians have often been self serving and venal.

Couple of recent readings.

George Will in Newsweek:
'His Brother Was Worse!'

"The Republicans' implosion began in March 2005 with their Terri Schiavo derangement, the attempt to intrude federal courts into a state's jurisdiction and a family's tragedy. Fourteen months later, after Katrina, Harriet Miers and the "Bridge to Nowhere," Republicans completed their immolation by briefly borrowing an idea from the epitome of failure, the Carter presidency. They flirted with the idea of a $100 rebate to almost everyone—even people without cars—as balm for the sting of annoying gasoline prices. Remember President Carter's 1977 idea to stimulate the economy with a $50 rebate? Actually, the $100 idea was even more risible: 100 of today's dollars are equal to 30 dollars in 1977."

and on the other side :

"Finally, if the Democrats, with all that they think they have going for them this year, fail to capture either house, they may become unhinged, as the Republicans did after they failed to defeat Truman in 1948. Republicans then succumbed to McCarthyism and other fevers, from which they were rescued by Dwight Eisenhower. Who would be the Democrats' Ike? Senator Clinton? Not likely."

In contrast, from Rick Coates in Northern Express"
A Voice of Reason
A piece on Bill Milliken, longest serving Govenor of Michigan.

Bill Milliken, during his days as governor, rose to the elite ranks of the leadership in the Republican Party. He was elected chairman of the National Governors Association, and in 1978 his fellow governors selected him as “the most influential governor in the nation” in a survey taken by U.S. News & World Report. His rise to national prominence had him on several short lists as a potential Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidate and surely a lock at a congressional or senate seat. But Washington didn’t interest him.
“I saw the direction politics was taking and it didn’t interest me,” said Milliken. “There were calls and even offers, but they just didn’t fit with the life we had chosen after I left Lansing.”

and

"In his address to a packed room on Mackinac Island at the Detroit Chamber of Commerce sponsored Mackinac Policy Conference, Milliken expressed his frustration with politics today.
“If anything, the political climate has deteriorated over the past 25 years. We have seen a growth of meanness, bitterness and excessive partisanship, which can only work to the detriment of the state and the nation. The focus has turned to winning elections rather than developing sound and responsible public policy,” said Milliken. “Too often that focus on winning boils down to just raising the most money and appealing to the worst instead of the best in people. Political discourse these days too often is focused on spin and staying on message rather than involving a genuine exchange of concepts and ideas.”
He added:
“One thing I learned a long time ago is raising the level of your voice doesn’t raise the level of your discussion,” said Milliken. “Sadly too many of us have lost sight that in the end, we are all in this together. When I was in Lansing we had our differences and they could be intense at times. But we were able to resolve them in a climate that maintained a sense of civility and mutual respect.”
He received a standing ovation for his comments, but one wonders if anyone took to heart what he had to say."