When I wrote about getting rid of seniority I never once thought of confusing seniority in Congress with seniority in the workplace. People in Congress may think that way but I don't think we should. They don't really have any rights in staking out a claim that their position is theirs until they screw up. Otherwise, we would cleaning their houses more often than we are now. It is more than their production that is visible; it is how well they get those earmarks and goodies for the folks back home. We can't get it through our minds that the reason Congress didn't accept term limits is because those reps in power want to stake a claim for their territory for as long as they can live. It is counter-productive to have this kind of reward system.
Just look at what the Republicans did yesterday. They voted as one. Why? What does it do to help the economy that the minority party shows its unity to illustrate the stupidity of their past decisions on bringing about the worst economic crisis in memory. They aren't interested in the economy they are interested in getting reelected. And the Democrats would do the same thing. Of course they would and "seniority" or their greater interest in themselves would be a factor in why they do what they do.
Enough. A new member of Congress may be much better than a guy primarily interested in getting all the money he can get for himself and the rest of his buddies back home.
The only other way to get a better Congress is to have term limits and that can only be done if Congress does it itself or we have an amendment to the Constitution. Otherwise, we are stuck with this inevitable mess that continues to reward greed and corruption before it actually does something that works.