In the general population of the US as of 2005, ~7 million of our ~300 million citizens, or ~0.0076% of the population is somehow involved in the prison/parole system. See this entry on the so-called “war on drugs” for hard data around the US prison population.

Now consider the US Senate and Congress, consisting of 535 members. Admittedly, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington doesn’t claim that the entire list of 22 members is in the prison system yet, but, there are serious allegations that probably would, with regular citizens, end with that outcome. That means that 4% of the population of our Representatives, or 5.4 times the rate of the US population in general, are corrupt according to this report.

In a population of any size there will be a variety of traits represented. But, in the government branch that represents the people, who were voted into office, I would expect that there is a closer correlation to the population at large. This list merely represents the members who have been caught. One has to wonder what the real rate of criminal and unethical activity is as the data may support a broader culture of corruption.

It’s no wonder that this Congress won’t hold members of a criminal Executive Branch accountable, they’re too busy with their own shenanigans. The 2006 elections were a good start, but more change is necessary to clean this mess up.