Really a politicians job is to get re-elected? And all this time I thought it was to represent the people who elected them.
Lobbyist should be outlawed, and if you haven't noticed most politicians are "rich", so gee no wonder they are going to benefit themselves.
When you consider what it cost to get elected or reelected to Congress, you can understand why so much time is spent raising campaign funds. Politicians are elected to represent the people as you say. Most of them do. Many politicians represent the folks who contribute the most to their campaigns.
The figures below are for the 2012 election.
House members, on average, each raised
$1,689,580, an average of $2,315 every day during the 2012 cycle.
Senators, on average, each raised
$10,476,451, an average of $14,351 every day during the 2012 cycle.
Very few politicians are rich enough to fund their own campaigns.
42,506,349 Elizabeth Warren Senate
$25,894,721 Michele Bachmann House
$22,024,288 John Boehner House
$20,945,196 Sherrod Brown Senate
$18,833,736 Claire McCaskill Senate
$18,038,275 Timothy Kaine Senate
$15,735,457 Kirsten Gillibrand Senate
$15,098,279 Ted Cruz Senate$15,063,115 Tammy Baldwin Senate
$13,402,612 Bill Nelson Senate
$12,673,306 Dianne Feinstein Senate
$12,290,307 Robert Menéndez Senate
$11,912,726 Jon Tester Senate
$11,159,085 Robert Casey Senate
$10,640,546 Debbie Stabenow Senate
$10,543,456 Christopher Murphy Senate
$9,994,587 Bob Corker Senate
$9,423,369 Maria Cantwell Senate
$9,341,391 Dean Heller Senate
$9,026,106 Jeff Flake Senate
$8,912,971 Orrin Hatch Senate
$7,640,467 Eric Cantor House
$7,245,123 Amy Klobuchar Senate
$6,727,091 Martin Heinrich Senate
$6,274,553 Bernard Sanders Senate
$5,662,233 Joe Donnelly Senate
$5,642,938 Heidi Heitkamp Senate
$5,594,299 Benjamin Cardin Senate
$5,514,418 Mazie Hirono Senate
$5,394,200 Alan Grayson House
$5,309,495 Tammy Duckworth House
$5,283,975 Deb Fischer Senate
$5,071,896 Joe Manchin Senate
$4,994,668 Paul Ryan House
$4,752,054 Patrick Murphy House
$4,605,118 John Delaney House
$4,578,119 Kevin McCarthy House
$4,496,594 Charles Boustany House
$4,476,145 Dave Camp House
$4,425,726 Suzan DelBene House
$4,381,438 Scott Peters House
$4,204,050 Joseph Kennedy House
$4,155,103 Steny Hoyer House
$4,129,538 Fred Upton House
$4,001,363 John Barrasso Senate
$3,753,860 Steve King House
$3,664,782 Ami Bera House
$3,629,324 Debbie Wasserman Schultz House
$3,540,707 Bill Foster House
$3,533,915 Lois Frankel House
$3,516,328 Thomas Carper Senate
$3,511,130 Diane Black House
$3,441,283 Mike Coffman House
$3,412,780 Tom Latham House
$3,401,860 Brad Sherman House
$3,384,007 Roger Wicker Senate
$3,375,830 Patrick Tiberi House
$3,371,438 James Renacci House
$3,326,550 Elizabeth Esty House
$3,324,422 Robert Pittenger House
$3,320,071 Lois Capps House
$3,299,474 Sheldon Whitehouse Senate
$3,297,683 Roger Williams House
$3,277,932 Peter Roskam House
$3,226,793 Aaron Schock House
$3,190,721 Steve Israel House
$3,161,004 Ann Kuster House
$3,113,793 Erik Paulsen House
$3,043,849 Bradley Schneider House
$3,035,222 James Himes House
$3,017,392 Jeb Hensarling House
$2,975,376 Ed Perlmutter House
$2,964,323 Angus King Senate
$2,910,725 Allyson Schwartz House
$2,876,918 John Barrow House
$2,861,095 Bill Pascrell House
$2,811,274 Kristi Noem House
$2,776,639 Ron Barber House
$2,756,589 Jeff Denham House
$2,748,859 Edward Royce House
$2,748,358 Steve Stivers House
$2,736,873 Greg Walden House
$2,731,218 Timothy Bishop House
$2,730,570 Vern Buchanan House
$2,725,004 Spencer Bachus House
$2,704,873 Ann Wagner House
$2,687,008 Bruce Braley House
$2,672,027 Michael Fitzpatrick House
$2,647,210 Sean Duffy House
$2,614,914 Patrick Meehan House
$2,577,592 Joseph Crowley House
$2,532,626 Jerry McNerney House
$2,521,899 Janice Hahn House
$2,493,720 Suzanne Bonamici House
$2,478,710 Darrell Issa House
$2,451,268 E. Rigell House
$2,449,473 Shelley Capito House
$2,423,277 Joseph Heck House
$2,405,553 David Cicilline House
$2,397,465 Scott Garrett House
$2,388,048 James Clyburn House
$2,386,295 Tim Murphy House
$2,363,587 Ann Kirkpatrick House
$2,360,399 Jim Matheson House
$2,352,676 John Kline House
$2,342,229 Scott Tipton House
$2,341,155 Tom Price House
$2,324,473 Reid Ribble House
$2,320,196 Cory Gardner House
$2,305,144 Nancy Pelosi House
$2,304,496 Mike McIntyre House
$2,281,359 Gary Peters House
$2,278,709 Louise Slaughter House
$2,278,000 Carolyn McCarthy House
$2,263,994 Michael Grimm House
$2,257,171 Sean Maloney House
$2,251,746 Stephen Fincher House
$2,241,573 Gerald Connolly House
$2,234,892 Jim Gerlach House
$2,224,860 Dan Benishek House
$2,221,935 Garland Barr House
$2,213,218 Tom Cotton House
$2,212,530 Cheri Bustos House
$2,187,577 Christopher Gibson House
$2,167,384 Kyrsten Sinema House
$2,165,669 Nita Lowey House
$2,155,828 Julia Brownley House
$2,146,246 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen House
$2,137,065 David McKinley House
$2,133,196 John Tierney House
$2,107,794 Tom Reed House
$2,107,579 John Shimkus House
$2,085,819 John Garamendi House
$2,084,904 Rush Holt House
$2,080,014 Jon Runyan House
$2,068,331 John Mica House
$2,054,754 Denny Heck House
$2,053,544 Keith Ellison House
$2,051,306 Robert Hurt House
$2,042,739 Bill Johnson House
$2,036,017 Lee Terry House
$2,034,419 Adam Kinzinger House
$2,032,959 Daniel Maffei House
$2,018,561 John Larson House
$2,002,960 Keith Rothfus House
$1,997,478 William Owens House
$1,982,870 David Schweikert House
$1,980,080 Howard McKeon House
$1,979,017 Ron Kind House
$1,976,758 Raul Ruiz House
$1,976,106 Timothy Walz House
$1,968,862 Cathy McMorris Rodgers House
$1,948,903 Lynn Jenkins House
$1,924,285 Mike Pompeo House
$1,921,587 Mike Rogers House
$1,917,049 Ed Whitfield House
$1,894,271 Henry Waxman House
$1,878,410 Jackie Walorski House
$1,873,136 Derek Kilmer House
$1,868,760 Frank Pallone House
$1,852,611 Grace Meng House
$1,850,000 Xavier Becerra House
$1,836,756 Sander Levin House
$1,836,552 Pete Sessions House
$1,830,491 Steve Daines House
$1,826,211 Tulsi Gabbard House
$1,823,957 Steve Southerland House
$1,819,057 Todd Young House
$1,818,730 Michelle Lujan Grisham House
$1,812,860 Peter King House
$1,811,426 Mike Thompson House
$1,802,830 Pete Gallego House
$1,797,931 Bill Cassidy House
$1,793,587 Richard Neal House
$1,789,595 Pedro Pierluisi House
$1,779,731 Marsha Blackburn House
$1,779,067 Kurt Schrader House
$1,746,929 Carolyn Maloney House
$1,744,503 Lloyd Doggett House
$1,732,311 Markwayne Mullin House
$1,727,472 Lamar Smith House
$1,723,480 Kevin Yoder House
$1,720,667 Carol Shea-Porter House
$1,720,190 Phil Gingrey House
$1,718,991 Steven Horsford House
$1,706,451 Charles Dent House
$1,692,833 George Holding House
$1,687,075 Stevan Pearce House
$1,677,371 Loretta Sanchez House
$1,674,736 Bill Shuster House
$1,672,433 Henry Cuellar House
$1,658,722 Jaime Herrera Beutler House
$1,654,833 David Reichert House
$1,649,564 Doc Hastings House
$1,634,096 Chris Van Hollen House
$1,624,078 Frank Lucas House
$1,620,070 John Fleming House
$1,619,346 Tim Griffin House
$1,618,469 Richard Hudson House
$1,606,982 Niki Tsongas House
$1,606,588 Bob Goodlatte House
$1,603,549 Bill Flores House
$1,595,563 Andy Harris House
$1,577,907 Brett Guthrie House
$1,566,500 Frank LoBiondo House
$1,562,540 David Loebsack House
$1,561,331 Randy Neugebauer House
$1,551,897 Devin Nunes House
$1,550,088 Bob Gibbs House
$1,535,592 Joe Barton House
$1,535,445 Harold Rogers House
$1,534,725 Daniel Webster House
$1,533,550 Tim Walberg House
$1,526,893 John Carney House
$1,523,072 Judy Chu House
$1,520,759 Joe Courtney House
$1,517,261 Jo Ann Emerson House
$1,510,757 Robert Andrews House
$1,510,603 Vicky Hartzler House
$1,499,023 Joaquin Castro House
$1,489,802 Anna Eshoo House
$1,483,424 Blaine Luetkemeyer House
$1,483,126 Jim Costa House
$1,473,767 Tom Rice House
$1,470,455 Alan Nunnelee House
$1,461,286 Charles Rangel House
$1,456,716 Mark Takano House
$1,449,962 Jared Huffman House
$1,444,696 John Dingell House
$1,440,815 Susan Brooks House
$1,439,597 Pete Olson House
$1,439,038 Colleen Hanabusa House
$1,436,751 Steve Scalise House
$1,435,521 Chris Collins House
$1,412,229 Charles Fleischmann House
$1,408,187 C. Ruppersberger House
$1,405,685 Hakeem Jeffries House
$1,400,551 Rodney Alexander House
$1,400,451 Rodney Davis House
$1,399,363 H. Griffith House
$1,395,068 Joe Garcia House
$1,385,894 Kevin Brady House
$1,375,457 Kay Granger House
$1,371,507 Larry Bucshon House
$1,362,710 Randy Hultgren House
$1,361,753 Matthew Cartwright House
$1,361,048 Justin Amash House
$1,359,430 Nick Rahall House
$1,359,236 Randy Weber House
$1,357,981 Sam Graves House
$1,356,321 Rick Larsen House
$1,351,218 Paul Broun House
$1,350,902 Janice Schakowsky House
$1,350,630 K. Conaway House
$1,339,446 Eric Crawford House
$1,334,027 Lou Barletta House
$1,333,331 Peter DeFazio House
$1,333,321 Adam Schiff House
$1,325,479 Kevin Cramer House
$1,324,340 Michael McCaul House
$1,321,362 Leonard Lance House
$1,321,278 Todd Rokita House
$1,315,897 David Valadao House
$1,314,808 Mark Amodei House
$1,312,424 Joseph Pitts House
$1,292,268 John Campbell House
$1,290,956 Sanford Bishop House
$1,282,757 Matt Salmon House
$1,273,981 Dina Titus House
$1,271,829 Gary Miller House
$1,264,885 Glenn Thompson House
$1,264,258 Theodore Deutch House
$1,260,459 Scott DesJarlais House
$1,257,013 Patrick McHenry House
$1,252,092 Richard Nolan House
$1,248,945 Robert Aderholt House
$1,248,412 Jack Kingston House
$1,238,300 John Lewis House
$1,232,450 Michael Turner House
$1,222,006 Michael Michaud House
$1,219,902 Marc Veasey House
$1,213,185 Jim Cooper House
$1,210,251 Alan Lowenthal House
$1,208,368 Bennie Thompson House
$1,205,400 Terri Sewell House
$1,200,026 Michael Simpson House
$1,191,743 Tom McClintock House
$1,185,142 Earl Blumenauer House
$1,180,463 William Enyart House
$1,179,677 Tom Graves House
$1,175,608 Rosa DeLauro House
$1,167,292 Barbara Lee House
$1,166,947 Luke Messer House
$1,163,154 Adrian Smith House
$1,155,959 James Lankford House
$1,155,959 Ron DeSantis House
$1,155,799 Emanuel Cleaver House
$1,153,511 Blake Farenthold House
$1,153,420 Mark Pocan House
$1,150,701 Paul Gosar House
$1,150,009 Marcy Kaptur House
$1,149,924 Jared Polis House
$1,146,862 Mike Kelly House
$1,145,880 Adam Smith House
$1,141,280 David Price House
$1,140,567 Jo Bonner House
$1,136,768 Sam Johnson House
$1,129,343 Collin Peterson House
$1,125,304 Jerrold Nadler House
$1,124,042 André Carson House
$1,114,641 Austin Scott House
$1,113,284 Mark Meadows House
$1,111,742 Robert Latta House
$1,103,439 James Langevin House
$1,102,858 Ben Luján House
$1,102,047 James Moran House
$1,101,628 Rodney Frelinghuysen House
$1,096,522 Thomas Rooney House
$1,096,315 Richard Hanna House
$1,092,129 Mac Thornberry House
$1,091,666 Edward Markey House
$1,091,573 Ken Calvert House
$1,091,197 Frank Wolf House
$1,091,162 Brian Higgins House
$1,089,631 Thomas Massie House
$1,086,870 Renee Ellmers House
$1,078,119 Jim Jordan House
$1,077,552 J. Forbes House
$1,075,806 Juan Vargas House
$1,069,891 Mike Rogers House
$1,068,822 James McGovern House
$1,068,816 Steve Chabot House
$1,068,123 Trey Radel House
$1,067,726 Lynn Westmoreland House
$1,066,724 Bill Huizenga House
$1,062,606 Eliot Engel House
$1,061,105 William Keating House
$1,054,607 Michael Burgess House
$1,051,652 Bill Posey House
$1,051,538 Diana DeGette House
$1,048,195 Linda Sánchez House
$1,044,468 John Conyers House
$1,040,707 C. Young House
$1,035,717 Martha Roby House
$1,030,165 Joe Wilson House
$1,025,611 Ed Pastor House
$1,024,608 Chellie Pingree House
$1,020,415 Kathy Castor House
$1,016,546 Tom Cole House
$1,015,733 Brad Wenstrup House
$1,012,295 Gene Green House
$1,010,367 John Sarbanes House
$1,003,532 Don Young House
$1,000,849 John Yarmuth House
$991,385 Tim Ryan House
$986,170 Duncan Hunter House
$976,669 David Scott House
$974,899 Paul Tonko House
$972,460 Virginia Foxx House
$969,474 Jackie Speier House
$966,271 Ted Poe House
$960,107 Marlin Stutzman House
$952,655 David Joyce House
$950,387 Robert Wittman House
$950,026 Peter Welch House
$937,451 Cedric Richmond House
$934,966 Gregg Harper House
$932,788 Steve Womack House
$931,990 Betty McCollum House
$926,893 Steven Palazzo House
$924,152 Billy Long House
$909,487 Michael Capuano House
$908,544 Raúl Grijalva House
$908,449 Doris Matsui House
$904,753 Mo Brooks House
$901,274 George Butterfield House
$900,844 Michael Honda House
$894,184 Filemon Vela House
$885,684 John Carter House
$883,780 Dennis Ross House
$872,995 Doug LaMalfa House
$870,614 Michael Doyle House
$866,835 Wm. Clay House
$858,985 Zoe Lofgren House
$857,538 Tim Huelskamp House
$852,973 Mario Diaz-Balart House
$852,387 Melvin Watt House
$844,097 Tony Cárdenas House
$842,045 John Culberson House
$831,886 Steve Cohen House
$830,196 Raúl Labrador House
$829,632 Kenny Marchant House
$827,493 Tom Marino House
$826,186 Eric Swalwell House
$825,518 Daniel Lipinski House
$823,446 Gwen Moore House
$812,493 Joyce Beatty House
$807,595 Jason Chaffetz House
$798,055 Mick Mulvaney House
$795,483 Elijah Cummings House
$788,056 Donna Edwards House
$785,240 Peter Visclosky House
$781,233 Jim Bridenstine House
$780,887 Doug Collins House
$779,237 Eddie Johnson House
$758,988 Gus Bilirakis House
$746,273 Robert Brady House
$743,699 Thomas Petri House
$743,547 George Miller House
$742,347 Louie Gohmert House
$740,897 Gregory Meeks House
$735,679 Sam Farr House
$731,601 Jeff Miller House
$729,888 Maxine Waters House
$729,836 Stephen Lynch House
$728,767 Trey Gowdy House
$728,591 Mike Quigley House
$726,003 Yvette Clarke House
$721,598 Daniel Kildee House
$721,044 Doug Lamborn House
$716,405 Walter Jones House
$715,314 Cynthia Lummis House
$706,756 David Roe House
$698,728 Jeff Duncan House
$698,414 Jeff Fortenberry House
$692,989 Karen Bass House
$689,197 Marcia Fudge House
$685,661 Beto O'Rourke House
$683,986 Ted Yoho House
$674,524 Nydia Velázquez House
$674,170 Candice Miller House
$663,827 Albio Sires House
$658,474 Christopher Smith House
$652,963 Alcee Hastings House
$650,922 John Duncan House
$647,372 Susan Davis House
$615,072 Corrine Brown House
$611,670 Jim McDermott House
$611,327 Donald Payne House
$610,014 Paul Cook House
$600,551 Richard Nugent House
$600,451 Sheila Jackson Lee House
$592,033 Rubén Hinojosa House
$589,851 Ralph Hall House
$588,812 Kerry Bentivolio House
$581,440 Lucille Roybal-Allard House
$554,920 F. Sensenbrenner House
$554,638 Chaka Fattah House
$543,227 Ander Crenshaw House
$540,770 Grace Napolitano House
$538,093 Chris Stewart House
$534,032 Frederica Wilson House
$531,611 Howard Coble House
$529,958 Scott Perry House
$498,765 Bobby Rush House
$493,392 Dana Rohrabacher House
$451,466 Robert Scott House
$448,223 Henry Johnson House
$407,300 Rob Woodall House
$378,998 Trent Franks House
$372,392 Steve Stockman House
$372,212 Danny Davis House
$353,367 Rob Bishop House
$352,550 Gloria Negrete McLeod House
$351,713 Al Green House
$344,315 Luis Gutierrez House
$332,288 Eleanor Norton House
$330,274 Donna Christensen House
$254,070 Madeleine Bordallo House
$212,068 José Serrano House
$111,145 Gregorio Sablan House
$110,570 Eni Faleomavaega House