Mr. Schneider Goes to Washington is a documentary about lobbyists and campaign finance reform in Washington. The film was made after Jonathon Schneider became irate watching a 60 Minutes episode with Senator Hollings’ candid account of the corruptive influence of money in Washington. You can see it for free for the next week and a half on YouTube.

“In a recent CNN poll 67% of Americans said they believe the American government is corrupt. Even more alarming, it seems 99.9% of the population does nothing to change it. Frustrated by Washington and his apathy towards it, I was finally shaken off my comfortable couch and compelled to storm to the capital of the worlds only superpower to find out what is going on with his government.

Quickly, I discovered that things in Washington are even worse than I imagined. Because of their dependence on big business and special interests to finance their political futures, almost every decision the President, Vice-President and Members of Congress make is corrupted. After all, there is no bigger issue facing our political leaders than getting re-elected. From education to health care, social security to taxes, foreign policy to gas prices, Americans interests repeatedly take a back seat to that of special interests.

Amazingly, Washingtons political elite agrees. Lobbyists, Members of Congress, lawyers, even the Commissioner of the agency responsible for regulating the influence of money in Washington candidly admit this is the most destructive influence on American democracy. Yet no one seems to care. More people voted for their favorite American Idol candidate than for their favorite candidate for President of the United States. We care more about the marital status of our favorite celebrity than what our elected leaders are doing in Washington. This isnt lost on the media, whose news coverage reflects its audiences preoccupation. The result: a population of uniformed, disengaged and disenfranchised non-voters hold the worlds only super power in check.”

(“Mr. Schneider Goes To Washington”. A.P.E . (Americans Pissed-off Enough) site)