Increasingly, the net worth of congressional representatives keeps going up, far faster than that of the general population. Some comes from insider trading and the like. Some comes from the parties themselves become increasingly again their own country club at the upper candidate-selecting / endorsing / supporting levels. A lot comes from more and more needing to have a solid foundation of wealth from which to run on.
But all of it begs the issue to what extent someone with a net worth in the seven, eight, or nine figures can represent their constituents' economic interests, or even understand them.
Nor, it's necessary to note, is this a partisan thing. The net worth of Dems in Congress has gone up substantially and is now roughly on par with the GOP (John Kerry at the top is certainly not hurting those figures).
Obviously wealth shouldn't automatically disqualify someone from office, nor does it automatically mean corruption or elite disinterest and disdain for the "99%". But it is worrisome, and a sign of increased drift from even the pretense of a "citizen legislator." #ddtb
Reshared post from +Bob Shrader
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Growing wealth widens distance between lawmakers and constituents
Between 1984 and 2009, the median net worth of a member of the House more than doubled, according to a Post analysis.