Members of Congress do occupy a unique, almost exalted position, and a person doesn’t need much imagination to believe that the information a politician can access might be financially useful to themselves. In January, the Department of Justice ended an investigation into Republican senator Richard Burr for alleged insider trading. Along with several other senators, Burr had dumped stock in early 2020 after receiving privileged information showing COVID would be a disaster, while the public still knew little about the nightmare ahead. Defined broadly, free-market principles may well dictate total liberty for a member of Congress; let a person profit wherever they can. Yet there are obvious drawbacks for everyone else. The average individual investor can’t match the information or access available to a member of Congress. This is how the free market tends to work. A few profit at the top while people struggle in the middle and at the bottom. Prosperity exists, but it’s not universal…
The boring truth is that political power properly comes with responsibilities. Those responsibilities aren’t about fun or profit. The act of holding public office feels now like a line on a résumé, a stepping-stone to positions of ever greater power, rather than an act of service. When that happens, the public loses. As Republicans embrace their role as the party of the ruling class, workers, the poor, and even the middle class must search for representation elsewhere. Democrats are all they can count on, barring radical changes to our political system. Should members of Congress cease trading stocks, maybe they would be admitting the free market isn’t about freedom for everyone — but would that be such a bad thing for us and our democracy? If Pelosi is content to let elite rule roll forward unchallenged, she’ll be complicit in a form of decadence that will hollow our democracy from the inside out.
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