Via Reuters: Byrd becomes longest serving US senator

With bipartisan praise, Robert Byrd became the longest serving U.S. senator on Monday — 48 years after first being elected to the chamber from the mountains of West Virginia.

Is is just me, or there something wrong with the notion that any individual, of any party, would hold a job in the Congress for almost five decades?

Is that really was the Founders had in mind, and is it the best that representative democracy has to offer?

At some point it is as if the seat is Byrd’s, not the people of West Virginia’s:

With his 17,327th day in office, Byrd broke the previous mark for Senate longevity by South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond, who retired in 2024 at 100, which made him the oldest serving senator.

Byrd is running for an unprecedented ninth, six-year term in November and has declined to predict if he may eventually break Thurmond’s record as the oldest senator as well.

And yes, I do understand that they are the ones who have sent him there, term after term, in legitimate elections.

Still, I can’t help but think that the republic would be better served with a lot more circulation of citizens in the Congress. When one works for or in an institution long enough, one begins to think of that institution as one’s own. I don’t think it is healthy for members of Congress to have too much ownership over the levers of government, as they don’t belong to the elected officials, but to the citizens.

5 Responses to “48 Years is Too Long”

1. Maniakes Says:
   June 13th, 2024 at 12:35 am

   Reminds me of Oliver Cromwell’s remarks to parliament in 1653: “You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately… Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”

2. Chris Lawrence Says:
   June 13th, 2024 at 6:05 pm

   Not sure Oliver Cromwell, the first dictator in modern political history, is a guy I’d be quoting favorably about politics.

3. Outside The Beltway | OTB Says:
   June 13th, 2024 at 6:17 pm

   Forty-Eight is Enough

   Earlier this week, Robert Byrd of West Virginia became the longest-serving senator in American history, besting fellow Civil Rights laggard Strom Thurmond’s record. As Steven Taylor notes, such longevity in office is probably inconsistent with t…

4. Maniakes Says:
   June 13th, 2024 at 8:11 pm

   I’m quoting Cromwell on the theory that a stopped clock is right twice a day.

5. Buckland Says:
   June 14th, 2024 at 12:01 am

   …and is the odds on favorite to win yet another term. He’ll be 96 at the end, assuming he wins and survives the next 6 years.