Just A Convenient Stepping Stone

Another member of Congress has announced his resignation.  This time it's Senator Jim DeMint, who still has several years to go in his current term.  He's moving on to head up the Heritage Foundation.

Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, one of the most influential leaders of the tea party wing of the party, will retire in January to head a conservative think tank in Washington.

DeMint has been a renegade on and off Capitol Hill, and earned a reputation for often rousing – and clashing – with his colleagues over his hard-line positions. The two-term senator carried those views to the campaign trail, where his political action committee endorsed right-flank candidates – often against the party’s wishes.

DeMint had from the start indicated that he would self-impose term limits on his senate career, but most people assumed that he would at least serve out all of his time.  I suppose there were several elements that entered into his decision, among them the failure of the GOP to take the Senate, but I can't help thinking that the presumed increase in pay and "prestige" also enter into it.

Like I said on Tuesday, our congress critters aren't even pretending any more:  service in Congress is just a temporary job, a place from which they can move on to bigger fame and fortune.

Sad, sad, sad.