Congress no longer works for the people

Public opinion polls show that an overwhelming majority of the American public, around 70%, want our troops brought home from Iraq. Yet, when any bill comes up for a vote in Congress that would require that a date be set for bringing the troops home almost every single Republican and about a third of the Democrats vote against it – even though everyone concedes that pro-war politicians running in 2008 are likely to be defeated. What is going on here? Our ability to vote the bums out at the next election is what is supposed to insure that Congress heeds the will of the people. But that no longer seems to work.

I have a theory about what is going on here. What do Congress people do after they leave office? Most of the time these days they stay in Washington and get lucrative jobs lobbying or working for one of the industries they regulated while they were in Congress. I suspect that as long as they do the bidding of the corporate-military power structure they are guaranteed a cushy and well-paid job once they leave Congress. They no longer listen to us. We have been outbid.