Our elected “representatives” in Washington seem to be more interested in representing their corporate masters than their true constituents.

Just last week, Congress was kind enough to vote themselves a pay raise, bringing their salaries to nearly $170,000. You may not have heard about that – after all, they did a pretty good job of keeping it quiet. Today, Congress will be playing politics with a proposed increase in the federal minimum wage, with the Republicans using tactics guaranteed to make sure it gets voted down.

The Democrats in the Senate are proposing an increase in the minimum wage from $5.15/hr. to $7.25/hr. Republicans in the Senate are using a parliamentary tactic to require 60 votes to pass, guaranteeing it won't, and offering their own bill to increase the wage to $6.25/hr. while reducing overtime pay. Just to make sure their own bill won’t pass, the Republicans are attaching abortion legislation onto their bill, along with tax breaks for employers.

In the House, our lawmakers are taking an even simpler approach – they’re refusing to allow the bill come to the House floor.

This is an absolute travesty. The men and women we have sent to Washington, ESPECIALLY the Republicans, are, as always, putting corporate interests ahead of the interests of working families in this country. They seem to be of the opinion that the Constitution starts with the words “We the Corporations” or “We the Campaign Contributors”, rather than “We the People”. When are we going to demand that our elected officials start respecting their constituents?

And to all you working-class Republicans out there who keep supporting your corrupt, arrogant, insincere, elitist representatives... The next time you have to choose between making the car or the house payment or putting food on the table, the next time you decide you can't afford a well-deserved family vacation, the next time you have to tell your kids, "mommy and daddy can't afford that", the next time you have to tell your kids they're gonna have to wait one more year to go to college; just remember, you did this to yourselves by supporting these clowns and sending them back to Congress year after year after year.

For once, put the good of your country before loyalty to your party. It's called being a patriot - you might try it sometime.