Politicians have long been responsible for cleaning things up. They see to garbage collection and snow removal. Failure in these areas is a prompt path to permanent political purgatory.

Why are they still in business when they can't won't clean up spam?

The river is rising. In the past six months, I've noticed an increase in the number of messages arriving in my inbox. In January I wrote that I was on a pace to receive 40,000 pieces this year; now I'm convinced the number will be higher.

Compare that with the number of legitimate emails I get, which is about 20,000 per year.