Jeff Bingaman uses “public service” to serve himself

For anyone who is interested in the ways in which politics and politicians are corrupt without (at least at this point) being caught breaking the law, read this story about New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman. As this story on the health care law and lawmakers’ big stakes in health care companies makes clear, Bingaman is not alone in having a personal financial interest in companies that he regularly makes multi-billion dollar decisions for and against.

Of course, Bingaman has done extremely well for himself while in Congress and is now ranked 40th richest of the 535 members of Congress. What can be done? First and foremost, it is time to strip Congress (and Washington in general) of much of its power and send it back to the states as the Constitution would have.

Secondly, we can stop falling for the crap like the Albuquerque Journal headline “New Mexico’s ‘Mr. Smith.'” Last time I checked, Jimmy Stewart didn’t have a personal financial interest in a boys camp.