If it's any consolation, his district (the 21st) has been gerrymandered so heavily that you'd need a nuclear powered crowbar to get him out. Given that his party is free to cherry pick the people who can vote for him, he's a representative in name only.

One difference between Americans and non-Americans is that Americans will apologise.

Smith is a tool and US politics sucks, but he isn't significantly worse than the norm in other countries and neither is US politics.

I bet you are 100% right. That doesn't mean we have to settle, just because its worse in other places. I'm sure you can come up with a few examples on your own where applying that same logic would seem like a terrible idea.

"I have a brain tumor, but its not as bad as some others so I'll leave it alone."

> That doesn't mean we have to settle

And I never suggested otherwise. I just pointed out that Americans apologise for this stuff while non-Americans don't.

I hear many things about Texas. Are you referring to the cities alone, or the entire state? I read the US history curriculum of Texas, and it it only reinforced my anecdotal perception of the parts of that state that aren't Austin and Houston.