With loss of centrists, Congress' rep will suffer more

The sad litany of centrists that are leaving the Senate at the end of the year reads like an obituary for Congress: Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), and Jim Webb (D-Va.).

A similar exodus has been occurring in the House. Rep. Dennis Cordoza, a California Democrat who is calling it quits, summarized the situation recently on his blog for The Hill. The loss of moderates, he said, is ruining Congress.

Here is what he wrote:

“There is rarely any mention that this exodus already happened in the House in 2010 -- albeit mostly involuntary -- and the resulting gridlock should serve as a warning. Scores of Blue Dogs and moderate Republicans either resigned or lost their elections when the Tea Party took power. “This extremism has absolutely devastated the day-to-day operations of the House. With a great many more moderate retirements already announced in 2012, I don’t see any improvement on the horizon.
 

“The situation is made worse by the ‘seniority system.’ The most senior members with the safest (most partisan) districts stay the longest, gain the most clout, and become chairmen and leaders. The result is that the partisan skew is magnified. As Congress continues down this ever-increasing path of hyper-partisanship, the pressure on and frustration among sitting moderate members steadily increases until we choose to retire.
 

"There are serious ‘real world’ consequences for the lack of moderates in government, too. Businesses are getting caught up in a vicious tug of war between regulation-happy liberals and live-free-or-die conservatives.”