Exit Interviews - Congressional term limits

We are just like second-century Rome and Greece. We are declining as a nation because our leadership and our government now use farce to state their cases, and there are too few people who are willing to stand up and challenge that, including the media. Consequently, the very tenets of our liberty are going to be taken away.

Reason: What are some of the perks of power?

Coburn: It's about being called "Congressman." C.S. Lewis had this concept called the "inner circle." Man is constantly trying to get into the inner circle and the reason you want to be on the inner circle is because there is notoriety in it, but also because you can elevate yourself above those that are outside the circle. This is the reason this is such a great job: There are only 435 in this inner circle, out of 270 million people. It is the ultimate inner circle. And then if you are a committee chairman, you are in the next inner circle. And then if you are in leadership, you are in the next inner circle. And then if you are in the conference committee in leadership, you are in the next inner circle. It is elitism, elitism, elitism--chasing something to elevate yourself.

Reason: What is the most absurd program you have come across in your time in Congress?

Coburn: There's tons. The advanced technology program. We subsidize major, multi-billion-dollar corporations in the country to advance their technology. Your tax dollars go to General Motors, IBM, Exxon-Mobil. It is ludicrous. And there's the sugar subsidy that elevates the price of your sugar.

Reason: Talk about your HIV/AIDS issues.

Coburn: I think history is going to show that this country was a miserable failure when it came to this disease. We have a million people walking around today with HIV. Had we handled it the proper way, the number would be about 50,000 or 60,000. The proper way would have been national testing, partner notification, and accountability. If you have HIV, you have the obligation to never give that to anybody. Just like if you have tuberculosis, you have an obligation to not give that to someone.

Reason: National HIV testing, a registry--actions like that have been taken in Cuba.

Coburn: The reason that such programs have been successful in Cuba is because of accountability. If indeed you do get HIV, you dare not give it to someone else. The spread of this disease would stop tomorrow if everybody that has HIV today didn't give it to anyone else. We need partner-notification and contact-tracing. Just like we've done with gonorrhea for 20 years in this country. We've never violated anybody's civil rights. We said, "You have this, you need to be treated. We need to know your partners so they can get treated and so that they won't give it to anyone."

Reason: What have you learned from your time in Congress?

Coburn: That six years is enough.

ANOTHER KIND OF SALMON

Matt Salmon, the Republican representative from Arizona's 1st District, is a budget hawk who nonetheless supports huge government spending for space, science, and the Stealth Bomber. He's not a man big on second, third, or fourth chances, be they for child molesters or for speakers of the House.