> And then we have the Congress in US with an approval rating in the teens and a re-election rate in the 90s [0]. Far be it from me to defend the United States

> And then we have the Congress in US with an approval rating in the teens and a re-election rate in the 90s [0]. Far be it from me to defend the United States Congress, but the two things--a low approval rating combined with a high reelection rate--are often presented as evidence for corruption. Corrupt though they may be, it's a faulty measure--the approval rating is for all of Congress. Most Americans by default hate half of congress--the half in the opposing party--and disapprove of many of their own members. Put another way, the approval rating has Bostonians evaluating congressmen from Houston, but most people end up reelecting their own congressman. "The problem isn't my congresswoman, it's the other idiots," etc. There are other, unfortunate reasons for that, but that's a separate point.