"If someone is going to question my patriotism, they had better be prepared to duck."

I'm interviewing former Georgia Congressman Ben Jones Wednesday afternoon. You may know him better as "Cooter" from The Dukes of Hazzard, which I remember watching without fail every week before my parents would, I believe, watch Dallas.

Did you know Jones ran against Newt Gingrich in 1994, following him to Connecticut at one point when Gingrich wouldn't debate him? That he smuggled a human rights banner into Tiananmen Square in his pants? That Shirley Temple was the American ambassador to Czechoslovakia during the fall of the Berlin Wall?

That's what it says in his book.

There were also some things I didn't like about (Congress). And the things I didn't like about it then are much worse now. Through partisan redistricting, a majority of the 435 seats in the House are not competitive. They are "safe" seats. They change hands when a Congressman retires or dies. Or is indicted. As we know, that happens, too.

And, of course, incumbent Congressman almost inevitably have bigger campaign war chests. That's because well-heeled individuals and special interest PACs make it their business to curry favor with the powerful. Now, everybody knows this. That is how the system works. And, it is unfortunately how it is probably going to continue to work. ...

But the system sucks. It really does screw the individual. ... I'm afraid, friends and neighbors, that most of your fine elected representatives are bought and paid for, no matter how they like to phrase it.