Maybe we should resurrect the "CSA" by seceding from these left-wing goofballs, both Northeast and West Coast loonies - only this time, we'd be the "Conservative States of America".
We could ship our inner-city left-wingers to them, and we could get their conservative suburban and rural folks.
It'll never happen, but it's a nice thought anyway.
What the likes of James McDermott point to is the problem of "safe districts." He's only the worst example of a group of members of the House of Representatives who run in districts where whoever is put on the ticket will be elected.
Those who favor term limits need to look more closely at the problem of incumbents and the redistricting that protects incompetent and otherwise disgraceful smucks who hold office, re-elected term after term.
For statewide offices of Senate, the explanation is more difficult to find. We can hope that an aroused electorate will finally wake up and choose differently. As with Tom Daschle though, the problem is one of being able to spend a lot of money telling people what they want to hear at election time and attacking your opponent with largely false charges that neither the press or the voting public has time or interest in refuting. Challengers have an uphill battle in any case. An apathetic, uninformed public and a press biased, in this case toward Democrats, is what keeps them in office.