I see you've updated your comment!<p>re: [4]  1) I'm glad you've had personal experience with this!  Cool!  2) Having a name for a phenomena does not mean that the phenomena actually exists.  and 3) It's hard to see that this is "more rigorous".  I was trying to point out that your (highly upvoted) comment didn't actually include any references, citations, or facts, although it appeared to.  It also seemed to be a (very well written) variation on the "some people say..." mode of rhetoric, which was further enhanced with a very authoritative tone.<p>I don't think it becomes an ontological or epistemological discussion to query for additional sources/evidence/data.  I was trying to courteously say "hey, that statement had no sources", especially because i don't believe that this is a very common phenomenon.  I will do so more bluntly next time.<p>That said, your state legislators are some of the lowest paid public servants there are (<a href="http://www.empirecenter.org/html/legislative_salaries.cfm" rel="nofollow">http://www.empirecenter.org/html/legislative_salaries.cfm</a>).  Unglamorous, unappreciated, and generally unknown to all but the most attentive citizens, it really pains me to hear some really smart people assume the worst of them.