Well, Everything's Our Fault, So I Guess It Makes Sense

USA Today—Elections are likely to trim number of women in Congress:

The prospects for female congressional candidates have been hurt by a combination of a tough political landscape for Democrats — women in Congress are disproportionately Democratic— and the nation's economic troubles. Hard times historically have made voters more risk-averse and less willing to consider voting for female candidates.

Bottom line: Independent analysts predict that the number of women in Congress — currently 56 Democrats and 17 Republicans in the House, and 13 Democrats and four Republicans in the Senate — will decline for the first time in three decades.

That's depressing. Even more depressing is that the article contains this line: "Beyond bragging rights, does having women in Congress make a difference?"

At least the article allows the answer yes. But that the question even frames a basic equality as "bragging rights" is absurd. This is meant to be a representative democracy. Fair representation should be a given, and its achievement regarded as the long overdue rectification of a shameful injustice, not the equivalent of a beer pong win for the ladies.