I haven't given it a lot of study, but I'm only aware of two members of Congress who seem to have put their money where their mouth is. One is Congressman Rich Nugent who represents The Villages and most of Sumter County. I'll take him at his word when he told a recent town hall meeting in TV that he had declined some of the Congressional benefits when he was going through the "new employee" sign up process. I thought I heard him say that he declined to participate in the Congressional 401(k), would not save and take the matching funds from the government. I also thought he said that he already had health insurance and declined participation in the Congressional program, even though it was cheaper and better than what he had. He didn't beliecve that Congress should get benefits like that which were so much better than most of the people he represents.

Unfortunately, Rich is an incumbent and he won't be getting my vote in 2012, as much as I like the guy.

The other person who "goes his own way" in Congress is Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma. Even though he probably would win re-election easily, he has stated that he believes in two=term term limits and in that this is his second term in the Senate, he won't run again.

You may recall that Coburn pretty much goes his own way in the Senate, supporting or not supporting legislation with littler or no regaqrd to the direction he gets from his party leaders. If there really is a maverick in the Senate, it isn;t John McCain, it's Tom Coburn. Too bad there aren't more like him.