Why Congress Wins While Americans Lose

For years, Americans have watched with growing frustration as members of Congress posture, grandstand, and wage culture wars while doing little to materially improve the lives of the people they claim to represent. Yet nothing exposes the deeper dysfunction of our political system more clearly than the quiet perks lawmakers secure for themselves—benefits ordinary Americans could never dream of accessing. This week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez finally said what many have been thinking.

She called out a pattern the public has long recognized: too many lawmakers treat Congress not as an act of public service, but as a pathway to personal wealth and long-term financial security. Viewed through that lens, the timing of certain resignations, sudden career pivots, and dramatic exits from office begins to look less like moral conviction and more like calculated self-interest.

Here’s the truth: once a member of Congress reaches five years of service, they unlock access to federal retirement benefits, subsidized high-quality healthcare, and long-term pension eligibility—protections far more secure than anything available to the average American juggling gig work, unstable employment, or rising healthcare costs.

That five-year threshold falls squarely in the middle of a House member’s third term. So when a controversial figure leaves office immediately after crossing that line, Americans have every right to ask: Who is the system really built for?