Updated. Thanks.

Sure they're elected, and yes this is our fault. I wrote about this in a previous post. Our current political situation has been a long time coming, and will take a long time to fix, but politics in America has reached an historical turning point.

The old rules as national politicians understood them were that they were going to DC to bring home the bacon, and somehow at the same time stem the tide of government intrusion. Party politics evolved with these rules such that once elected, the new member of Congress was protected by the party, and even back home he was "Our guy."

As the years went by, the incumbents began to feel safer, and they stopped listening. We've had a watershed of new spending, regulations, and laws in the past three to four years that have enough voters finally speaking up. In the past, folks got angry, but soon forgot. Now they're saying, "listen to us!" months-or years-after a particular event. The response from elected officials is simply a case of "We know best." When politicians stop acting like representatives and start spending money that isn't theirs, that we don't have, on things we don't want, with the result of increased power over our lives, they become self-appointed rulers.

With few exceptions, the 537 elected officials in Washington, DC have stepped outside the limits set by the Constitution-the contract with the states and the people. They ACT like rulers, so I'm calling a spade a spade.