“..I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I … take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.”
The 116th U.S. Congress dramatically illustrates something that I believe about America, that it is a work in progress. It is constantly struggling to be a better place to live for ALL citizens, than it was a decade or a century ago.
The revered authors of our U.S. Constitution masterfully worked together to re-invent government here. I suspect that this feat could not have been accomplished by anyone else, at any time since. But their work was just a start, as evidenced by the fact that 127 members of today’s congress did not even have the right to vote in 1789, because they were women; and 59 because of their African ancestry, and 4 because of their American ancestry. Today they serve in an elected body that wields the balanced power to govern this magnificent country.
The one aspect that seems less evolved to me is the influence of wealth in my country’s governance. Property is no longer a prerequisite to vote, but money is a requirement to become a member of Congress. According to the FEC, candidates had to spend an average of more than a million dollars – winners and losers [calculated from https://goo.gl/pz7nBu]. According to OpenSecrets, 89% (88.8) of races for the House of Representatives and 86% (85.7) for the Senate were won by the candidate who spent the most money [https://goo.gl/SJoqa8].
American government continues to favor the wealthy.