by Tom Funk

Created on: October 03, 2009   Last Updated: October 04, 2009

The current salary for a U.S. Senator and Congressman is $174,000. That is for the rank and file members, not House or Majority Leaders, who can make up to $193,400 as a Majority Leader and $223,500 as Speaker of the House. These salaries may seem excessive and to the average person they are. Why? Because the average household income in the United States is $46,000. That's right, $46,000.

Some households obviously make more and some less, that's the rough average across the board. And yet elected officials, people we expect to represent us, make more than three times that amount. Politicians are out of touch with the average citizen and it is time they became responsible for their actions, or better yet, their lack of action.

The average workaday citizen is held accountable for their efforts on the job. When you're hired, you are held to certain expectations, and should you fail to meet them, you're let go. It's a pretty simple principle. And yet, every year, hundreds of politicians go to work and fail.

They leave their campaign promises at their campaign offices and go to Capitol Hill and argue with each other. Political lines are drawn and our tax money is wasted on ridiculous things. Quite simply, these politicians have forgotten what it's like to have a real job where people expect results.

How often do you hear about laws, policies, actions being bogged down in Congress or the Senate due to bureaucracy? Congressmen and Senators are influenced by big business and lobbyists; they forget the people they are meant to represent and listen instead to those that are already privileged with money and power. If you went to work and failed to do your job, you would be fired.

If you went to work and spent the day arguing with a co-worker instead of being productive, you would be fired. Why are these same principles not applied to the people that run our government? This is the question we should all be asking, and here is the solution.

When a politician makes a campaign promise, they should have to follow through. When they go into session, they should make legislation that benefits the people of the United States. When an important issue comes up and needs to be resolved, they must take action. When a crisis hits this country, like the recession, we must be able to rely on politicians to do what they can to fix it, to be proactive. And should they fail, they must be held accountable.

How? Most of you would say it's up to the American public to reelect them, and

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