It's Not a `Spectacle,' It's Simply Democracy Working as It's Supposed To

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In her article on the freshman class in congress ("GOP freshmen mellowing as elections near," Nation, Feb. 7) Congressional Quarterly reporter Jackie Koszczuk characterizes some unspecified votes in the House in 1995 as "often demanded floor votes on divisive issues such as abortion when the proposals in question had no hope of winning enactment."

Before addressing the obvious inaccuracies in this latter statement, let me ask, what counts as a "spectacle"? A dictionary at hand defines a "spectacle" as "a regrettable public display." While Ms. Koszczuk's report is ambiguous about the nature of most of the votes that she believes fall in this category, she clearly intends …