Written by Miles Brown, Staff Writer

For decades, the country’s wealthiest individuals have been donating money to candidates that will protect their assets and promote their agendas. This mutually beneficial relationship unfortunately affects the country negatively and comes at a cost to the American people.

The country is not on the same page as Washington, D.C. when it comes to what leaders are chosen and what these leaders do once they take office. Big money donations are not in any way benefiting the country. All it does is corrupt and take less power away from the people in the United States who want to change it for the better.

The “good” average American won’t get the chance to take these important political positions, due to the individual not having as much money as their opponent. The political system in this country is corrupt due to this interaction between money and politics.

According to opensecrets.org, the total cost in elections has risen from $1 billion to $7 billion in 14 years from 1998 to 2012. This is only going to get worse. Leaving the country’s richest and wealthiest to be in power. It is practically legalized bribery.

The fact that it costs so much money to run in a presidential election means that 95 percent of the population has no chance to dictate the direction they want the country to go. Bribery is much ramped in Congress and in the Senate, there are many lawmakers who don’t have the American citizen’s interest in hand.

In all honesty, politicians and senators care more about getting the most power is the legislative branch then actually legislating bills. The more the American people continue to ignore these issues, the more corrupt our politics will become.

This type of politics is not new and it is going to take a lot of work to change it. People who are middle class and pay taxes are the ones who are going to be the front runners for change.

The American people need to start worrying about the local and state government before thinking nationally. The citizens in this country need to elect honest and trustworthy people in office. This way the wealthy guys are forced to support our choices or just not donate money at all.

Hopefully, we will eventually see a country where our choices for president are not there strictly because of their wealth but their character as well.