Thanks GAK, and same here

The phrase "by and large" is intended to accomadate the idea that "There are the rare and odd exceptions", each essentially completing the other in a circuitous way.

In the US federal govt. GAK, many politians will enter congress, usually in their 30s or 40s, then unless they get actually caught at something and resign they will often finish out the rest of their lives in congress. Too many times this leads to lots of pork bellied projects to pet or stroke some group, organization, or someone and tends to lead to more overall costs with a decreased benefit to the nation as a whole. Not to even mention the "good ol boys syndrome" this also leads to.

What we need is some fresh blood and the scent of more to come if they don't start listening to and acting upon the feedback they get from their constituants

Lastly, anyone who lives in this country and doesn't have a certain amount of fear of the government, wouldn't seem to know much about it