Submitted by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

No wonder Washington never changes – 79 members of Congress have been there since Bill Clinton’s first term in the White House. This list includes names such as Reid, Feinstein, McConnell, McCain, Pelosi, Boehner, Rangel and Boxer.

In this article, I am going to share with you a complete list of the members of Congress that have been “serving” us for at least 20 years. They believe that they are “serving” us well, but without a doubt most Americans very much wish that true “change” would come to Washington. In fact, right now Congress has a 15 percent approval rating with the American people, and that approval rating has been consistently below 20 percent since mid-2011. So of course we took advantage of the 2014 mid-term election to dump as many of those Congress critters out of office as we possibly could, right? Wrong. Sadly, incumbents were re-elected at a 95 percent rate in 2014. This just shows how broken and how corrupt our system has become. The American people absolutely hate the job that Congress is doing, and yet the same clowns just keep getting sent back to Washington again and again.

Our founders never intended for service in Congress to become a career, but that is precisely what it has become for many of our “public servants”. As of this moment, there are 79 members of Congress that have been in office for at least 20 years, and there are 16 members of Congress that have been in office for at least 30 years.

No wonder so many Americans are advocating term limits these days. When there are dozens of members of Congress that know that they are going to be sent back to Washington over and over again no matter how the American people feel about things, that can cause them to become extremely callous toward the will of the people. Instead, often these politicians become increasingly responsive to the needs of their big donors, because it takes big money to win campaign after campaign. I am sure that if George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were running around today, they would be absolutely disgusted by how our system has evolved.

The following is a list from rollcall.com of the Republicans in the U.S. Senate that have served for at least 20 years and the dates when they first took office…

Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Jan. 4, 1977

Thad Cochran, Miss. Dec. 27, 1978

Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Jan. 5, 1981

Mitch McConnell, Ky. Jan. 3, 1985

Richard C. Shelby, Ala. Jan. 6, 1987

John McCain, Ariz. Jan. 6, 1987

James M. Inhofe, Okla. Nov. 30, 1994

The following is a list from rollcall.com of the Democrats in the U.S. Senate that have served for at least 20 years and the dates when they first took office…

Patrick J. Leahy, Vt. Jan. 14, 1975

Barbara A. Mikulski, Md. Jan. 6, 1987

Harry Reid, Nev. Jan. 6, 1987

Dianne Feinstein, Calif. Nov. 4, 1992

Barbara Boxer, Calif. Jan. 5, 1993

Patty Murray, Wash. Jan. 5, 1993

The following is a list from rollcall.com of the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives that have served for at least 20 years and the dates when they first took office…

Don Young, Alaska March 6, 1973

Jim Sensenbrenner, Wis. Jan. 15, 1979

Harold Rogers, Ky. Jan. 5, 1981

Christopher H. Smith, N.J. Jan. 5, 1981

Joe L. Barton, Texas Jan. 3, 1985

Lamar Smith, Texas Jan. 6, 1987

Fred Upton, Mich. Jan. 6, 1987

John J. Duncan Jr., Tenn. Nov. 8, 1988

Dana Rohrabacher, Calif. Jan. 3, 1989

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Fla. Aug. 29, 1989

John A. Boehner, Ohio Jan. 3, 1991

Sam Johnson, Texas May 18, 1991

Ken Calvert, Calif. Jan. 5, 1993

Robert W. Goodlatte, Va. Jan. 5, 1993

Peter T. King, N.Y. Jan. 5, 1993

John L. Mica, Fla. Jan. 5, 1993

Ed Royce, Calif. Jan. 5, 1993

Frank D. Lucas, Okla. May 10, 1994

Rodney Frelinghuysen, N.J. Jan. 4, 1995

Walter B. Jones, N.C. Jan. 4, 1995

Frank A. LoBiondo, N.J. Jan. 4, 1995

Mac Thornberry, Texas Jan. 4, 1995

Edward Whitfield, Ky. Jan. 4, 1995

The following is a list from rollcall.com of the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives that have served for at least 20 years and the dates when they first took office…

John Conyers Jr., Mich. Jan. 4, 1965

Charles B. Rangel, N.Y. Jan. 21, 1971

Steny H. Hoyer, Md. May 19, 1981

Marcy Kaptur, Ohio Jan. 3, 1983

Sander M. Levin, Mich. Jan. 3, 1983

Peter J. Visclosky, Ind. Jan. 3, 1985

Peter A. DeFazio, Ore. Jan. 6, 1987

John Lewis, Ga. Jan. 6, 1987

Louise M. Slaughter, N.Y. Jan. 6, 1987

Nancy Pelosi, Calif. June 2, 1987

Frank Pallone Jr., N.J. Nov. 8, 1988

Eliot L. Engel, N.Y. Jan. 3, 1989

Nita M. Lowey, N.Y. Jan. 3, 1989

Jim McDermott, Wash. Jan. 3, 1989

Richard E. Neal, Mass. Jan. 3, 1989

José E. Serrano, N.Y. March 20, 1990

David E. Price, N.C. Jan. 7, 1997 Also served 1987-95

Rosa DeLauro, Conn. Jan. 3, 1991

Collin C. Peterson, Minn. Jan. 3, 1991

Maxine Waters, Calif. Jan. 3, 1991

Jerrold Nadler, N.Y. Nov. 3, 1992

Jim Cooper, Tenn. Jan. 7, 2003 Also served 1983-95

Xavier Becerra, Calif. Jan. 5, 1993

Sanford D. Bishop Jr., Ga. Jan. 5, 1993

Corrine Brown, Fla. Jan. 5, 1993

James E. Clyburn, S.C. Jan. 5, 1993

Anna G. Eshoo, Calif. Jan. 5, 1993

Gene Green, Texas Jan. 5, 1993

Luis V. Gutierrez, Ill. Jan. 5, 1993

Alcee L. Hastings, Fla. Jan. 5, 1993

Eddie Bernice Johnson, Texas Jan. 5, 1993

Carolyn B. Maloney, N.Y. Jan. 5, 1993

Lucille Roybal-Allard, Calif. Jan. 5, 1993

Bobby L. Rush, Ill. Jan. 5, 1993

Robert C. Scott, Va. Jan. 5, 1993

Nydia M. Velázquez, N.Y. Jan. 5, 1993

Bennie Thompson, Miss. April 13, 1993

Sam Farr, Calif. June 8, 1993

Lloyd Doggett, Texas Jan. 4, 1995

Mike Doyle, Pa. Jan. 4, 1995

Chaka Fattah, Pa. Jan. 4, 1995

Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas Jan. 4, 1995

Zoe Lofgren, Calif. Jan. 4, 1995

As you looked over those lists, you probably noticed that they contain many of the members of Congress that Americans complain about the most.

Unfortunately, because the vast majority of these individuals come from states or congressional districts that are basically a lock to vote a certain way, there is very little hope of ever removing them. That means that most of these Congress critters are going to get to keep coming back for as long as they want.

No matter which political party you prefer, this should greatly disturb you.

Our founders certainly never intended for a permanent class of elitists to rule over us.

But that is what we have.

We are supposed to have a government of the people, by the people and for the people, but instead we have a government of the elite, by the elite and for the elite. Most people do not realize this, but today most members of Congress are actually millionaires. The disconnect between members of Congress and average Americans has never been greater than it is right now, and I think that is a very troubling sign for the future of this nation.

So is there a solution to this problem?