You often here “Congress just doesn’t respond to the people anymore. Unless you have a pile of money to donate to a re-election campaign, you might just as well not exist.”

Somehow, I suspect that this has always been the case. Back before our Congresscritters were paid a real salary, they had to be somewhat better off than average in order to afford being away from their farms or businesses for extended periods. As with any other normal person, they would listen to, take advice from, and try to help their friends. If anything, I’d venture to guess that Congress today is more responsive to “the people” than it was 200 years ago.  I don’t know how to go about proving that, though.  Any suggestions?