A recent report by the Congressional Ethics Office--there's a misnomer if I ever heard one--reported that lobbyist's campaign contributions to members of Congress has totaled $1.7 billion over the last ten years. Further, the rate of campaign "giving" has accelerated dramatically in recent years.

With all those zeros, it's sometimes hard to do the arithmetic. I did it for you. That's $3.91 million for each and every walking, talking member of the U.S. Congress! Of course, they all didn't get that much--some got lots more if they were in positions to be "friendly" towards their donors.

This is the "democracy" designed by our founding fathers? I think not. I've almost concluded we need a new system. Would a monarchy work better?

This factoid really P's me off.