Americans are flush with success over killing comprehensive immigration reform. Good for us–but. Do you wonder how it got as far as it did? How did a Congress with a 14% approval rating–the lowest recorded by Gallup since they began polling in 1973–get to a point where they were poised to defy the overwhelming sentiment of those who elected them?

The answer is simple: we keep re-electing them.

How bad is it? Sunday’s Washington Times: “During the 10 general elections for Congress held before 2002, voters returned to office an astounding 95.8 percent of House incumbents seeking re-election (3,746 out of 3,910) and 86.3 percent of incumbent senators seeking another term (215 out of 249).”

In other words, no matter how many times they completely ignore our wishes, or how badly and/or incompetently they behave, this bunch of largely self-interested mediocrities can depend on US–nine-times-out-of-ten–to send their sorry butts back to Washington D.C.

For those unfamiliar with the “same old story” it goes like this: all those Senators and Representatives from OTHER states should go, but the folks from MY state are good, so I’m re-electing them.

There’s a joke about a guy who opens up his lunch at work on Monday. “Tuna fish? I hate tuna fish,” he says. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, same thing. Every day a tuna sandwich, every day the same lament. On Friday, he opens the bag: STILL a tuna fish sandwich. “I can’t tell you how much I hate tuna,” he says to a co-worker he’s eating with. “Why don’t you tell your wife to make you something else for lunch?” the co-worker asks. “Can’t do that,” he replies. “I make my own lunch.”

Nine-out-of-ten returnees, my fellow Americans. That’s a whole lot of tuna–and it’s starting to stink.