WASHINGTON, March 10, 2008 - “The very rich,” observed F. Scott Fitzgerald, “are different   from you and me.” And nowhere is this so-called difference more apparent than in the growing divide between poor and working class Americans and the rich who rule over us. While working class Americans are getting poorer (there are five million more   poor people today than in 2005), studies show that the rich are indeed getting richer. According to the Center   for American Progress, 37 million Americans, a size roughly equivalent to the population of California, live   below the official poverty line. Thus, in a nation of almost 297 million people, 12.6 percent are poor (for   instance, a family of four that makes less than $19,971 is considered poor). And one out of every three   Americans is considered low-income.   

At the other end of the spectrum, 19 percent of the nation's income is   held by the richest one percent of Americans who, according to former New York Times reporter David   Cay Johnston, have gotten richer as a result of taxes, subsidies and regulatory policies that “take from   the many to give to the already superrich.”

In his latest book, Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With the Bill , Johnston explains that the trend of   government policies favoring the superrich began when Ronald Reagan became president and has continued through   the Clinton and Bush administrations. “The 400 highest-income Americans—people who on average make   well over $100 million a year—were paying 30 cents on the dollar when (Bill) Clinton came to office, 22   cents when he left,” said Johnston. “Under (George W.) Bush, they're paying 17.”

A number of America's wealthy elite are also on the government's   payroll, serving in the U.S. Congress. For example, the Center for Responsive Politics reported in 2006 that   about half of the Senate's 100 members are also millionaires and their average net worth is $8.9   million.

Even those members of Congress who do not belong to the so-called “Millionaire's Club” enjoy a host of congressional perks. In addition to their six-figure   salaries, our representatives also receive millions to maintain offices in their home state and in the   nation's capital, as well as other benefits such as free life insurance, a generous retirement plan for   life, 32 fully reimbursed road trips home a year, as well as travel to foreign lands—all of which comes   at taxpayer expense. And then there are the “extras” ranging from discounts in Capitol Hill   tax-free shops and restaurants, $10 haircuts at the Congressional barbershop and free reserved parking at   Washington National Airport to use of the House gym or Senate baths for $100 a year, free fresh-cut flowers   from the Botanic Gardens and free assistance in the preparation of income taxes.

Little wonder with such entitlement that elected officials who have, and have in   abundance, are ill-equipped to relate to the struggles of those who have little to nothing at all. We see this   in a multitude of ways, from hastily passed laws that infringe on our rights to pork barrel legislation that   primarily caters to special interest groups. How else to explain the fact that taxpayers who live from paycheck   to paycheck have, in years past, found themselves paying $50 million for an indoor rainforest in Iowa, $500,000   for a teapot museum in North Carolina and another $500,000 for a national wild turkey federation in South Carolina?

This disconnect became particularly evident in 2005 when those in Congress who   had no trouble voting themselves pay increases rejected a minimum wage hike from $5.15 an hour to $6.25 for   blue-collar workers. Such self-serving behavior arises in part out of the privileged, rarefied world in which   our elected representatives reside. Fast forward to the present day, with the nation in a recession and   Americans losing jobs at an alarming rate, and we find President Bush, born to wealth, seemingly surprised to find gas prices hurtling toward the $4 a gallon mark.
 
So what does this mean for “we the people”?

It means that the once-cherished idea that any American citizen, no matter their   station in life, could someday become president of the United States has been reduced to little more than a   pipedream. Only the wealthy, or those connected to great wealth, have much chance of holding high office   anymore. This is illustrated by the fact that Clinton, Obama and McCain have already spent nearly $300 million   for the privilege of sitting in the Oval Office.

But it is the common person—you and I—who, by participation in   government, not just voting, should determine governmental policy. As Abraham Lincoln observed, “Wise men   established these great self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some man, some faction, some   interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men, were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity should look up again at the Declaration of Independence   and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began.”