by Lou Vailant

Created on: March 13, 2009   Last Updated: March 19, 2009

In any struggling economy, the public looks to their leaders for guidance and relief. In 2008, the economy is out of control, seemingly unable to revert to its previously solid and prosperous state. The thoughts haunting many citizens' minds include personal relief, and questions of their representatives' plan for such. Unfortunately, it seems those representatives may be out for lunch, and it is the taxpayers who are picking up the tab.

Most Americans are watching their bank accounts dwindle at varying rates. Sadly, some of the Americans lucky enough to have the necessary funds to ride out the storm are the very same lawmakers we are relying on for a solution. Members of Congress enjoy an average annual salary of $169,000 resulting in "U.S. Senators [logging a] median net worth of approximately $1.7 million in 2007," while their colleagues in the House enjoyed a net worth of "about $684,000" (CRP). Personal pessimism towards the government aside, there are a good amount of politicians who have rightfully earned their constituents' votes through good-natured lawmaking. Having said that, maybe it is time for these politicians to do some more and give up some of their salary in order to free up the budgetary cuts many of the states are facing. Some of the benevolent politicians I previously noted would see it as part of their duty and consider such alternatives. What is unfortunate about this solution is that such politicians are rare.

According to the Center for Responsible Politics, "only about 1 percent of American adults can be considered millionaires" (CRP). In no way am I trying to put a black eye to the American millionaires, but given the current economic situation, one quite possibly caused by excessive spending and mismanaged money, these seem like the wrong kind of people to be making important fiscal decisions.

What the Center for Responsible Politics is doing is great. It is important that we as Americans have the necessary information to make educated decisions and hold our politicians accountable for both their personal and political decisions. What is needed now is less apathetic citizens. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, at the time this article was written there were 305,873,330 people in the United States, 131,257,328 of which voted in the 2008 presidential election. (U.S. Census Bureau, Wikipedia) Estimates claim that there are roughly 210 million registered voters. When these numbers are calculated together, there was only a 61-63% voter

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>