A poll conducted by Public Policy Polling in January found that a whopping 85 percent of Americans distrust their member of Congress. In June, Gallup reported a Congressional approval rating of just 10 percent.
More Americans than ever view their government as out-of-touch, corrupt and more likely to cater to the desires of the wealthy’s special interests than those of the average citizen.
One of the most significant examples of corruption in American politics is the “revolving-door” system.
The revolving door involves members of Congress and the executive branch who serve the wealthy interests that fund their campaigns and support their nominations.
Upon their retirement from public service, those same wealthy interests reward faithful politicians with high-paying jobs as lobbyists and executives.
One well-known participant in the system was Robert Rubin, former board member of Goldman Sachs and secretary of the treasury during the Clinton administration. Rubin was one of the most forceful advocates for deregulation of Wall Street that took place in the final months of the Clinton administration.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, a bill for which Rubin forcefully advocated, repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, a law put in place during the Great Depression to prevent future financial crises.
As a reward for his loyal service to Wall Street, Rubin was given a position at Citigroup as director, a job for which he received salary and stock options worth about $126 million. Meanwhile, Rubin’s support for deregulation of Wall Street led to the financial crisis of 2007 and the subsequent recession, resulting in unemployment, economic stagnation and poverty from which America will need years to recover.
A more recent participant in the revolving-door system is Billy Tauzin. Tauzin served as a member of Congress from Louisiana for 25 years before retiring in 2005.
One of Tauzin’s signature achievements before his retirement was guiding the Medicare prescription drug benefit bill through Congress. The bill, which was signed into law by George W. Bush in 2003, ensured a new source of revenue for pharmaceutical companies.
Just as Rubin was rewarded for his faithful service, Tauzin became the head of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the ultra-powerful lobbying group for the drug industry, upon his retirement from Congress.
In 2010, Tauzin earned $11.6 million from his position as president within the group.
Tauzin would later play a significant role in the crafting of the Affordable Care Act — commonly known as Obamacare — to ensure the law favored pharmaceutical companies as much as possible.
Although the corruption in Washington is pervasive, possible solutions exist.
One measure to fix the revolving-door system would require members of Congress and the executive branch to wait a set period of time — about five to seven years — before allowing them to work for organizations they regulated during their time in government.
Another possible solution is the implementation of term limits for members of Congress.
This would prevent well-funded special interests from establishing close relationships with elected officials and unduly influencing their decision-making. Finally, and most importantly, a system of public campaign financing should be instituted to prevent money from exerting a greater influence on elected officials than votes.
Public financing would ensure that members of Congress are focused on the needs of their constituents and not on fundraising for their next campaign.
Elliot Levy is a public relations and political science junior. His column runs on Wednesdays. A version of this column ran on page 6 on 9/4/2013 under the headline "To fix Washington, close ‘revolving door’"
