economically ruined." if the question is whether washington is broken, make the case that the answer is yes. >> i think there's no question it's broken. you know, our country was created on the principle of compromise. think about it. the states versus the federal government, senate versus house, north versus south. and i remember once, one of the old framers was asked, what is the three principles of this new government you've created? well, the first is compromise, the second is compromise, the third is compromise. something's happened where compromise has become a terrible word in washington. it's partly because the parties have become more ideologically separated. henry clay was the great compromiser. lincoln's idol was henry clay. now a lot of people feel you're undoing your convictions. what are you going to washington for unless you're trying to work out solutions? solutions in a diverse country like ours will require compromise and i don't think that attitude is there. and i think the kind of people that come to washington now don't want to do that, and it's only going to get worse as the caliber of people gets less. >> congressman, you're new to