Run. Win. Repeat.

The always eloquent Star A. Decise of The Enigmatic Paradox is at it again, with this take on Tuesday's election results. Insightfully pointing out that the sweeping Democratic victories across the nation, wonderful as they were, helped to obscure the even larger - and more telling - triumph of incumbency, Ms. Star writes:

Those most responsible for the country's troubles - also known as incumbents - won better than 15 times as often as they lost.

So even though the House - and perhaps the Senate - changed hands, the vote once again demonstrated that American elections are little more than incumbent coronations.

The process has calcified and all but collapsed. It's a momentous reversal of the Founding Fathers' intent. In one of their grand compromises, they designed the government to provide both long-term stability and an avenue for quick change...

But few challengers were able to break through elected officials' institutional defenses. Gerrymandering and incumbents' access to easy money, free publicity and mountains of pork have made them one-step shy of invulnerable.

Volumes have been written about the ridiculous amounts of time and energy our elected officials spend just hanging on to their positions in Washington. And only a fool would disagree that all of that time and energy is being invested at the expense of the very thing these individuals are supposed to be doing - namely, governing the nation and representing the will of the American people.

We've had the foresight in this country to make even the Presidency a temporary job, lest the person holding that title grow too complacent or powerful or imperial. Can we in good conscience do any less, then, concerning those who aspire to Congressional office?